Garbage disposal resumes after 10 days

After a disruption for 10 consecutive days, garbage collection in Kathmandu Valley resumed on Tuesday. Newly elected mayor Balendra Shah had to exercise relentlessly for over a week to resume the disrupted garbage disposal which had given an ugly look to the city before he resumed the office.

The disruption was because of the continued protest of the locals of Sisdole and Bancharedanda landfill of Nuwakot, where the mayor and deputy mayor Sunat Dangol reached twice after assuming office to sort out the problems. Altogether 157 trucks carrying 1,221 metric tonnes of valley garbage reached Bancharedanda landfill site bordering Nuwakot and Dhanding districts. Police had to use force to disperse the agitating locals before dumping the waste in the afternoon.

Around 1,200 metric tonnes of garbage was dumped in the landfill sites on Tuesday.

Since the regular waste collection has been halted in the Valley, major streets of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), including New Road, Bag Bazaar, Bhrikutimandap, Koteshwor and Kamalpokhari are now littered with piles of garbage dumped by households, shops, hotels, businesses and offices.

Every day, the Kathmandu Valley produces 1,200 metric tonnes of garbage, with half of that in KMC alone.

This is not the first time the Valley has witnessed the problem. Garbage management is one of the key tasks of the metropolitan city. The regular garbage collection of the Valley has been halted time and again for the last five months following the protest of the locals of the landfill site. On Monday night, a the tri-partite commitment was signed at the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) under the leadership of Minister Ram Kumari Jhakri, Metropolitan Mayor Balendra Shah and Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol.