KMC begins clearing garbage

By Arpana Adhikari ,

Kathmandu, Apr 16 : The Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s Solid Waste Management Division has started removing garbage from the major streets of Kathmandu.

Garbage dumped by households, shops, hotels, businesses, and offices had been polluting the capital for more than 10 days. 

But KMC, the main authority for collecting and disposing of the trash in the city, finally sprang into action on Friday and began clearing the roads and alleys of the city. 

Aashish Sharma, a student who roamed around Baneshwor, Lazimpat, Maitidevi, Ghantaghar, Kamalpokhari, and Durbarmarg Friday morning, was delighted to see the trash gone. 

“This is not how the streets of the capital frequented by tourists should be,” he said.

Kalpana Shrestha, a resident of Gyaneshwor, also expressed joy at having the rubbish pile dumped near her house finally cleared.

All garbage collection was stopped earlier this month due to the blockade of the Tinpiple to Mukhu Bhanjyang road by locals demanding immediate reconstruction of the damaged sections of the highway.

Sailung Construction received the contract to work on the highway nine years ago. However, despite repeated deadline extensions, it has failed to work satisfactorily which caused the locals to protest. 

“The Road Division under the federal government is responsible for handling such road construction issues. Yet, the KMC is the body that is blamed for not taking action to dispose the city’s waste,” complained Sarita Rai, head of the Environment Department of KMC. “All we can do is request the construction company to speed up their work.”

Rai said the repeated obstructions seen in the city’s waste management was due to a lack of a sustainable approach. 

For now, though, KMC has begun clearing the trash littering the streets and also began collecting garbage from people’s homes on Wednesday, Rai informed.

This is not the first protest by the locals of Tinpiple and Tisdale. Time and again, the residents of Sisdole, the only landfill site for all the 18 local levels of Kathmandu Valley, stop garbage trucks from coming to their area citing health concerns.

“The KMC has been addressing all the demands raised by the people of Tisdale. However, road reconstruction is not in our jurisdiction,” stressed Rai.

Tisdale was designated a dumping site in 2005 and was only supposed to be used for three years. However, it has been more than 15 years and Sisdole is still in use.

The Ministry of Urban Development has been constructing an alternative dumping site at Banchare Danda on the border of Nuwakot and Dhanding. However, the contractor has already missed multiple deadlines for its completion and work remains in limbo.

“The construction of the first cell [at Banchare Danda] is complete and ready for use. 

However, it has remained unused because the trucks must cross Sisdole to reach it, a near-impossible task because of the mounds of garbage that cannot be driven on,” said Rai.

Waste segregation made mandatory

Meanwhile, the KMC issued a public notice on Thursday asking households and businesses to mandatorily segregate biodegradable waste and non-biodegradable wastes before disposing of them for garbage collection.

Such calls have been issued on previous occasions as well but the metropolis has not been able to change the habits of its residents.