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Another group to leave Valley stinking
KATHMANDU, AUG 31 -
No sooner had the news of the end of garbage came out than it spread like wildfire on Monday on the streets of Kathmandu Valley where garbage was lying unattended for a week.
But the respite was short-lived as garbage disposal has once again come to a standstill, thanks to obstructions one after another.
Only one day after a group of Okharpauwa locals agreed to allow Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) to dump garbage there, now it is the turn of another group to launch their strike. As a result, 17 waste-laden KMC vehicles on Tuesday had to return back without unloading garbage from Aletar landfill site in Nuwakot.
The new group, distancing itself from the agreement signed by the former group, did not allow the KMC vehicles to dump garbage saying that locals be immediately employed by KMC.
“We had asked them to join our groups before sitting for talks with the government on Monday, but they declined,” said Chandra Bahadur Shrestha, coordinator of Alletar struggle committee, the group that signed the agreement on Monday. Political parties are said to playing with some genuine grievances of the locals for their benefit. The group that reached the deal on Monday is understood to have association with the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML. Now the new protestors are said to be close to the UCPN (Maoist). However, they denied this.
“This is nothing to do with the party (Maoist)”, said Bal Bahadur Balami, a member of the new group. “All we are asking is jobs for locals.”
Protests one after another leading to obstruction in garbage disposal has frustrated KMC and Local Development Ministry once again.
The government must be tough now, said an officer of Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre (SWMRMC) on condition of anonymity.
PM directs KMC chief to act
KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Tuesday directed the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) chief to end the garbage row immediately. KMC Chief Ananda Raj Pokhrel was summoned on Tuesday by the prime minister after the garbage row surfaced a week ago. “The prime minister expressed his concern over the halt in garbage disposal,” said Pokhrel, adding that the prime minister ordered him to find a long-term solution to the problem. The prime minister also asked the KMC chief to identify new dumping sites, in addition to sorting out the managerial issues related to garbage collection and disposal.
Meanwhile, the government is considering use of force for garbage disposal if the disruption continues. “We will do everything in our power to resume garbage disposal on Wednesday,” said Pokhrel.
A meeting of government bodies scheduled for Wednesday morning will take a final decision on the issue.
Posted on: 2010-09-01 08:11
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