Where the shop keep moving

While going from Bharatpur to East Ratnanagar through East-West Mahendra Highway, 5/6 three-wheelers such as autorickshaws carrying seasonal fruits can be seen as the Tikauli forest ends. As fruits are decorated in an attractive way, small vehicles often stop there and buy one to two kilos of fruits. Vishal Rai said that he has been selling fruits like this for four years. "It's been 13 years since I started selling fruits," he said. Now I sell it in a car shop.

50-year-old Vishal, who lives in Ratnagar Municipality-1 Nippani, also went to India for employment. After working there for eight years, he returned home. Instead of going abroad, he was going to sell fruits in carts, later he spent 380,000 rupees and bought a three-wheeled vehicle, which can carry three quintals of fruits. He reaches the Narayangarh vegetable and fruit wholesale market early. After coming home and eating, they leave Tikauli. They sit under a tree and think about the sales situation. If it seems that it will be difficult to sell, they start the car and go to the village to pay the toll. Most of the fruits are sold in Tikauli itself. If not, they can sell goods by traveling 40/50 kilometers to the warehouse.

This has become easier because of the car. As much as what is sold in Tikauli itself, otherwise it could be moved to other places, it started and walked, it didn't take much effort,' Rai said, 'When the shutters were put up, customers would come, they would not come, but after having a vehicle, it was able to reach where the customers are.'

Navinjung Thapa 31 Year old. He has started selling various dishes of m:m, chowmein and chicken in the e-rickshaw itself. He studied up to class 12 and went to Dubai to earn money. It has been only three months since he returned home to Bharatpur Metropolitan City-5 Vishalchowk after staying there for 12 years. He also worked in a hotel in Dubai. With that experience, he decided to run a snack shop after returning home. "An old e-rickshaw was found for 2 lakh rupees rather than paying the shutter fare. No need to spend on petrol. That's why I started running a restaurant," said Naveen.

There is a hot market in Vishalchowk near the house. Even on non-haat bazaar days, he keeps a rickshaw and sells food. Reasons that are started now do not go far. "When you understand, you have to go out again," he said. His idea is to have an oil mill. He has seen that pure mustard oil can be kept in such a vehicle and sold around the village. He said that he is going to gain experience by doing similar work before starting that big job.

Rajaram Sah has been selling dekchi, kasaundi, cooker, plate, and bowl on his bicycle in the streets and alleys of Chitwan since 1948. 55-year-old Rajaram is also assisted by his now 30-year-old son Abhijit. Baohora has been selling kitchen utensils across Tempo for a year and a half after leaving his bicycle. He rarely climbs the hills of Chitwan, otherwise he wanders east and west to sell goods. Sometimes even hundreds of kilometers are traveled. Cycling was hard work. It cost petrol. Dulan did not have to work hard," said Rajaram. He bought the car by investing 6.5 lakh rupees. He says that business is not so good due to the economic slowdown, but it is easy to do business because he bought a car when he was getting old. If there was a bicycle, my son would not have walked with me. There is a car and the son is also with him, he said.

It has been more than five years since the appearance of such 'gudne shops' in Chitwan, along with autorickshaws carrying passengers and small vehicles transporting goods and selling goods. Customers don't go looking for a shop, or the shop is looking for customers, the style of reaching villages has also benefited the youth who are engaged in earning. Homnath Paudel of Anushi Auto Trade, who is selling autos in Chitwan, says that the practice of doing business in three-wheelers has started since five years ago. He says that this is a sophisticated and smart business. Paudel, who has been selling passenger autorickshaws, also sells such vehicles.

Two years ago, at least five such vehicles were sold a month. Now only one is sold. He said that the people who take such vehicles are mostly young people. We also give suggestions to those who come to buy such vehicles on what kind of business is right for them. To change the shape of the vehicle according to the nature of the business, we also prepare the shape as long as it meets the rules," said Paudel. Until last year, sales were satisfactory due to bank lending. He said that sales were affected due to lack of such facility this year.

Businesses in autorickshaws are not all smooth sailing. Govind Lamsal, who returned home to Ratnanagar after training in coffee making in Kathmandu about nine years ago, worked at Sauraha for some time. After that he bought a car from the dealer of Homanath Paudel and started running 'Ghumti Restaurant'. He used to reach the main square of Sauraha in the morning and evening. Earnings were good. But now he has sold that car and set up a restaurant in the room.

'I used to sell coffee, tea and Parutha. It was easy and beneficial for me. The shop was registered. It doesn't seem like there was anything illegal. But he was a little surprised," he said. "The car I bought five years ago for 636,000 ran for 11,000 kilometers. Last year, I sold it for 340,000 rupees." The police used to turn a blind eye when they mentioned a modified car. "Perhaps the shopkeepers at Sutter thought that I did business for free," he said. What to do with all the countermeasures. And I sold the car.'

Most of the shopkeepers in the car did not want to open up to the conversation. Most of them said that they will not appear in the media because they are "doubting that the local authorities will remove them, or that the police will give them grief." Local authorities and toll development have also asked those who walk around with a microphone to remove the microphone. If someone has violated it, we have made a reminder. Otherwise, we have not taken action against those who sell goods in vehicles,' said Chitwan Police Spokesperson DSP Sriram Bhandari.

Police inspector Suresh Subedi, who is the head of the district traffic office, says that the driver's license of such vehicles is checked. "We have taken action focusing on driver's license (license) and alcohol consumption issues. All kinds of vehicles fell into it. Even some who drive e-rickshaws, tempos, autorickshaws do not have a license. In terms of modification, we are focusing on motorcycles rather than such vehicles," said Subedi. Even if there are some problems, autorickshaw businessman Paudel says that 'Smart Thela' is useful for those who are self-employed with patience and hard work.