Police halt home delivery service, arrest staff

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KATHMANDU, AUGUST 28 Nepal Police arrested several e-commerce entrepreneurs, including more than 20 delivery persons, yesterday, stating
that home delivery services were against prohibitory orders issued by the District Administration Office, Kathmandu, on August 26
The orders, which were first issued on August 19, will remain in force till September 2. Staff of a Kathmandu-based restaurant detained by
Nepal Police at Durbar Marg, in Kathmandu, on Thursday, August 27, 2020
Photo courtesy: Alok Yonzan During this period, several e-commerce companies had been providing home delivery services of household stuff,
food items, vegetables and medicines, among other goods
Besides arresting delivery persons, police also took the respective companys operators under control. A police van arrived at my place at
around 4:00 pm and police personnel asked me to accompany them, stating that our company had conducted home delivery services, violating the
law, said Samita Ojha, founder of Sasto Mela
First they held our delivery boy and then they came to arrest me. Other e-commerce entrepreneurs were also in custody, she added. Today too,
Sasto Mela tried to deliver goods before 9:30 am
However, police detained a delivery boy. Nepal Police Office at Tinkune has stated that home delivery services have not been mentioned as
essential services in the prohibitory orders issued by the DAO, while entrepreneurs claim that they were delivering essential goods. Even
during the lockdown period we delivered goods to consumers without any obstacle from the administration, but now the police say it is
against the law, Ojha told THT
The order has to clearly mention that home delivery services of essential goods are not allowed
Moreover, we have not been delivering any unnecessary goods
All our deliveries are household items and medical supplies, she added. Instead of promoting e-commerce, the administration seems to be
demotivating this new global business practice, she rued. Meanwhile, Amun Thapa, founder of Sasto Deal, said the young e-commerce
entrepreneurs were putting their lives at risk to serve the people and it was shameful on the part of Nepal Police to randomly arrest them
without any proper notice or reasoning
He added that the entrepreneurs should not be punished for the lack of coordination between the CDO office and Nepal Police. Just a few days
back, we had talked to officials at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies regarding our service and the latter had said we could
operate the same, said Nikita Acharya, founder of UG Cake
According to her, she too was taken to the police station and confined for three hours. Instead of arresting us, they could have asked us to
stop our services from the next day, said Acharya
We now have to suddenly halt our services and cancel all the orders, though most of the orders have already been paid for, she added
The police could have dealt with this in a better way as we were delivering essential items. In one example of the inconvenience that
consumers had to suffer, Prazone Maharjan received a call from Daraz online this morning informing him that his order mdash; which included
food items, masks and sanitiser mdash; had been cancelled. Home delivery service had somehow made our life easier and it is one of the best
options to avoid the crowd at shops in the morning, he said, adding, Also, not all people have access to a market or shops close to their
homes or some might not be able to go out due to a medical condition or because they have children at home
So, halting the service, I feel, is not a very wise decision. He added that the government could have introduced some rules and allowed the
service to continue. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies has written a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs
requesting it to allow home delivery services. A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 29, 2020, of The Himalayan Times. The
post Police halt home delivery service, arrest staff appeared first on The Himalayan Times.