Kabul Municipality recently conducted an extensive campaign to clean up the city’s center, removing countless street vendors and placing them in designated areas around the city. The campaign has cleaned up many streets and improved traffic, but street vendors are increasingly concerned about their livelihoods.
Many of Kabul’s citizens support the municipality’s initiative to clean up the city’s center, but peddlers and street vendors are dissatisfied. They claim that the municipality did not provide them with alternate places to sell their goods which they’re dependent on to make a living.
Municipality officials reject such allegations saying that all peddlers and street vendors’ carts and booths have been given specific places in each district of the city.
Abdul Qadir, a 20 year old resident of the Bagh-e-Qazi area of the city said that he used to sell music cassettes in Froshga but the police and municipality personnel destroyed his booth.
“The municipality neither determines a specific area nor lets us go to our previous places,” he said. “The police destroy our vendor carts if we go to into the city center, and I had to rent a booth in Pul-e-Yak Paisagi [an area near the presidential palace]. I rented a booth for 5,000 Afghani per month which too expensive for us.”
Asadullah, 60, a vegetable seller in Karti-e-Naw is complaining for the same reasons.
“I have been selling vegetables beside this street for a year, but now I have to rent this booth, which is expensive,” he said. “The government should provide us with a specific place for doing our business. The weather is cold and vegetables will freeze. Given all of this, I cannot earn enough money to support my family. The government should not bother us if it does not give us a place to work.”
Shakir, who was selling electric appliances in Jad-e-Nader Pashtun has encountered problems with the police.
“The police hit me and took all my appliances” he said. “I am actually a student, but I have to sell these appliances to help my family.”
Shakir is very disappointed with the campaign and is concerned about how he is going to support his family. “The municipality does not determine a specific place and just pushes us to go from one location to another. The government is just encouraging us to steal or smuggle,” he added.
Mohammad Ishaq, head of the Information Department at Kabul Municipality, disagrees.
“The municipality had to clean the city and people are very happy,” he said. “We have considered peddlers’ problems and determined two to four specific locations in each district for them.”
Mujiburahman, a peddler agrees.
“Now I feel much more comfortable in this area the municipality designated for us. I hope the municipality does not ask us one day to leave here,” said Mujiburahman, a resident of Karti-e-Naw.
Kabul residents may encounter difficulties in purchasing routine goods, but they are also very pleased that streets have cleared and they can easily travel through the city’s center.
Khalid, a resident of Kabul, is happy about this initiative. “It was very difficult to reach our work on time before the municipality cleaned up the city and removed the vendor carts,” he said. “Now, there are no crowds in the streets and we can easily reach our destinations.”
According to Ishaq, Kabul Municipality has launched this most recent cleaning campaign following a decision of the Ministers’ Council and the Ministries of Defense and Interior Affairs.
The municipality’s current campaign to clean up the city center is a well-intentioned initiative, but many struggling street vendors warn that unemployment will rise if the municipality does not determine specific locations for them to sell their goods.
