Clear Dust Pollution

The increasing level of air and dust pollution in the Kathmandu Valley has been taking its toll on the health of people. The issue of dust pollution has become exacerbated in areas where the task of laying electric wires underground has now been going on. Roads and adjoining settlements at Jadibuti and Purano Sinamangal have become quite dusty over the past several months with contractors hired by the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) continuing to work on the Jadibuti-Purano Thimi road section for this purpose. The residents of those areas are bound to go through difficult times throughout the day because of rising clouds of dust emerging from roads adjacent to their houses. They can hardly stay home without shutting down doors and windows to check the inflow of dust. Shopkeepers and passers-by are another lot to reel from this perennial problem. Local retailers complain that sales of fruits and vegetables have now dropped considerably as the products do not look fresh due to dust. 

People have got fed up with dusty roads and polluted atmosphere. Since the work related to managing electric wires underground does not seem to be moving ahead efficiently, the locals are unlikely to be free from the hazards of dust pollution anytime soon. The Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) is also often found digging roads at different locations in the Kathmandu Valley to replace old water pipes with the new ones for the Melamchi Water Supply Project. The local governments and other organisations like the Department of Roads (DoR) appear to be carrying out their responsibilities in their own way. In the absence of proper coordination among such agencies and working guidelines, roads get dug repeatedly. After having completed their tasks, each of the organisations is supposed to repair the roads properly. But they are rarely found doing so. This type of practice leaves the roads full of potholes and dust. 

However, the Ministry of Urban Development has already directed the relevant bodies to accelerate the process of laying water pipes and constructing drains in an efficient manner. There should be good coordination and cooperation among different public bodies to manage the roads effectively. The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) and other local governments in the valley had vowed to give a facelift to their respective areas by removing dust and other unwanted objects from roads. But most roads and bridges seem to be full of dust. Even the KMC has failed to maintain roads and streets neat and clean. The long spell of drought has further complicated the problem. Different parts of Nepal, including the Kathmandu Valley, have not recorded any rainfall over the past four months. This has left the environment polluted.

Health specialists say that dust pollution may have both short-term and long-term effects on the health of people. It could contribute to increasing PM 2.5 pollutants in the air. According to them, the rise in dust pollution at an alarming rate puts everyone at high risk of catching flu, common cold, cough, asthma, and eye-related problems in short-term. This type of pollution could cause lung cancer, hair fall, depression, hypertension and stroke in the long-run. So, they draw the responsible authorities’ attention towards carrying out demolition and development works together to ensure that people do not bear an additional burden of pollution. The dust with fossil fuel causes black carbon, which leads to temperature rise. Bearing all this in view, the authorities must take urgent steps to deal with dust and air pollution with all seriousness.