KATHMANDU: With the arrival of major festivals of Nepalis, traders and entrepreneurs are worried that they are not able to bring goods from China due to the border obstruction by the Chinese side.
Although most of the goods ordered for Teej festivals in August have arrived, the goods ordered for major festivals such as Dashain, Tihar and Chhat have not arrived yet.
Traders complain the late arrival of the goods have caused a double loss as the main seasons to see the rise in trade transactions will come to an end with the end of Dashain and Thar.
According to them, the goods and supplies ordered from China have to be diverted to ship and Indian ports as the festivals are coming closer.
First affected by the sudden outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, and later by the landslide on either side of the border, the imported goods are either channeled to Nepal via ships and Indian ports or left remain in the border for some more time.
Ready-made garments, shoes, slippers, electronics, cosmetics and many more most consumed goods and items are imported from China most of the time, but the disturbance caused first by coronavirus pandemic outbreak and later by the landslides on either sides of border.
According to the Sindhupalchowk administration, the Tatopani border of Sindhupalchowk which was somehow shutdown since July is about to open.
“Tatopani border which remained closed since July will open soon,” Umesh Kumar Dhakal, the Chief District Officer of Sindhupalchowk said.
He added that the PCR of the people to be deployed at the border post is already sent for test, other preparations are also going on parallelly.
He added that as most of the goods are diverted to ships to come via Indian ports as there are the piles of goods and supplies lie stacked at the the border check posts for quite a long time.
According to Punya Bikram Khadka, the Chief of Rasuwagadhi Customs Office, the Customs Office that used to see more than 25 containers coming from China everyday, get hardly 4-5 containers lately.
He informed that most of the goods brought from this route before included health materials, electronic goods and the goods gifted by the government of China to Nepal.
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