WIN TO GET IN: Only 143 of the 458 stalls will be operational by year end

1 December, 2008 - More than a month after the Centenary Farmer’s Market was inaugurated, vegetable vendors are still selling their wares outside the new market, in the dust.

And, even when it’s opens up to vendors, not all will get the opportunity to sell their veggies from the stalls of the new market.

Officials said that only 143 stalls would become operational by December of the 458 stalls. The allotment to the 143 regular vegetable vendors will be done on December 2 on a lucky draw basis.

Thimphu city officials said that more applications were coming in. However, the forms will have to be verified by gups and the DYT chairman. All applicants, who fulfil the criteria set by the Centenary Farmers Market management committee, will be eligible to sit for the lucky draw.

Thimphu city corporation’s chief environment officer Gyeltshen Dukpa said that all the stalls inside the Centenary Farmers Market are numbered and allotment of the stalls will be purely based on the lucky draw.

Explaining the delay, the chief officer said that there was a mismatch between the number of stalls available and number of people who have applied for the stalls. “We’re taking time because we want to ensure transparency and fairness in allotting the sheds to the vendors,” he said.

The vegetable vendors will have to pay a nominal charge for stall fees ranging from Nu 1500 to Nu 2000, depending on the size of the stall.

Meanwhile, vendors are complaining about being pushed from one place to another. It’s been more than a month since they were shifted to the new temporary location near the Centenary Farmers Market after the YHS ground used as a temporary weekend vegetable market was converted into an entertainment venue.

A farmer from Wangdi said that, since he couldn’t get a proper shed, he was not able to sell most of his vegetable. “I couldn’t even recover the money that I spent on bringing my vegetables to market,” he said.