Kalimati vegetable market to resettle retailers, become wholesale-only

As Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Market is balmed for fuelling price hike due to cartel, the Kalimati Fruits and Vegetables Market Development Board is preparing to allow only wholesale transactions.
The officials of the board today at a programme announced that the move will help systematise fruits and vegetables business and help check price volatility.

Likewise, the board is also planning to install a digital price display board in the market that will display information – like prices and place of production –about at least 15 vegetables.

The Kalimati market – that supplies an average of 700 tons of vegetable to the valley every day – as a major vegetable supplier in the valley needs to be  restructured, said chairperson of the board Mohan Bahadur Chapagain. "Restructuring the Kalimati market as the 'wholesale only' market will help us maintain price too," he said, adding that the government will resettle the retailers to some other places.

The market has a total of 451 stalls including 70 retailers at present.  
Director at the board Arjun Parsad Aryal, on the occasion, said that they would soon make it mandatory for traders to use electric weighing machines as the customers have been complaining of cheating by using faulty weighing machines. "The use of electric weighing machine will help solve problem."

The board is also planning to launch a campaign to raise awareness on waste management, apart from vegetable fairs.

Likewise, programme director at Plant Protection Directorate Dilli Ram Sharma, on the occasion, informed that the market will soon adopt a technology that screens pesticides residue in fruits and vegetables. "The market is going to establish a laboratory on the market premises, which will measure the pesticide residue level in the produce and verify its acceptance level for consumption," he said, adding that the market will be using the Rapid Bioassay for Pesticide Residue analysis technique that will identify the pesticide residue level in vegetables and fruits and provide information on whether they are fit for human consumption". If products with high levels of pesticide residue are consumed regularly, it severely harms human health and the environment."