Rajendra Dhanuk, a local resident of Jogbudha in Dadeldhura, has been running a fancy shop in Brahmadev of Kanchanpur for the past two decades. He lives in a rented flat in Brahmadev with his family of six.

However, his business took a hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. Now, Dhanuk has taken up daily wage jobs to provide for his family.

“My shop has been shut down for the last nine months. I don’t have money to pay bank loans that I took to open the shop,” said Dhanuk. “I have started to work as a daily wage worker in Jogbuda and Bramhadev to look after my family.”

Brahmadev bazaar is the bordering market place in Ward No. 9 of Bhimdatta Municipality in Kanchanpur district. Businesses in the bazaar area that relies heavily on Indian customers have been badly affected ever since the Nepal-India border was sealed to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

“The shops that were closed in the lockdown have yet to reopen,” said Karna Bahadur Chand, a business owner in Brahmadev. “Some of our friends have started other businesses while some are working as daily wage earners. Economic transactions in the bazaar area have come to a halt since the start of the lockdown.”

According to him, many business owners in Brahmadev are currently engaged in agriculture, some have become street vendors and others are working in mining sites.

There are around 150 shops in Brahmadev bazaar. Among them, only a dozen have reopened after the lockdown. But even those reopened shops are not doing good business, Chand said.