Dumped garbage flows into private land

BY HARI PRASAD KOIRALA,Urlabari, July 3: The garbage dumped by Urlabari Municipality of Morang has reached the fields of farmers in Urlabari-8 and Ratuwamai-10. 

The municipality has entrusted the responsibility of waste management to Jay Shree Pathibhara Environment Care Pvt. Ltd. The company has been disposing waste at Jhumra on the eastern side of the Bakraha River. The river changed its course to the east, and as a result, the waste has been washed into the farmers' fields. Not only in the fields, but even the Bakraha River section of the East-West Highway in Urlabari has become polluted. Anyone can see pieces of glass, empty bottles, plastic waste, and hospital waste floating in Bakrahaghat, which is connected to the highway.

For the past five years, Jay Shree Pathibhara Environment Care has been dumping waste between the Jhumra River and Bakraha River. Sometimes the Jhumra River water is diverted towards the waste, which then flows into Bakraha, and sometimes the river's erosion causes waste to be washed into the farmers' fields, creating trouble every year. 

Bishnu Prasad Niraula, chairman of Khaidugasara (Khaireni, Durgapuri, Gagate, Sakhuwani, Rateholi) Irrigation Water Users Association in Urlabari-8, said, "It's time to plant rice. The head box of the canal is clogged with the waste. Despite our efforts, we can't stop the waste.” 

He informed that beer bottles, pieces of plastic, glass fragments and hospital pads had accumulated at the mouth of the canal. He said that the municipality did not respond to the waste management problem despite their multiple complaints. 

Bakraha River irrigates 1,500 hectares of land in Urlabari. The problem is the same everywhere the river flows. According to Niraula, while cleaning the head box of the canal, people often get injured by glass fragments. He said, "We have kept the head box small. Big waste items cannot pass thorough it but small fragments of glass and other waste passing thorough it end up in the fields." 

Netra Ghimire, operator of Jay Shree Pathibhara Environment Care Pvt. Ltd., said the waste entered the river due to natural causes. Stating that it was not intentional, he said that he had been managing waste on his private land. However, the river eroded his land daily, he added.

Before 2018, the municipality used to dump the waste on its land in Urlabari-3. However, the Bakraha River changed its course and eroded that land. Since then, the municipality has given the responsibility of waste management to Jay Shree Pathibhara from April 4, 2019. The municipality's two tractors dump 8-10 loads of waste daily on the banks of the Bakraha River. 

According to Ghimire, the company has allocated two bighas of land for waste disposal. He informed that the five-year contract ended on April 1, 2024 and the municipality extended the deadline by three months until July 2, 2024. 

Municipality's information officer Bharat Adhikari said they had been searching for land for dumping garbage for a year before the deadline of the contract. Although empty land plots were found, close neighbours did not agree to use it for dumping waste. He said that waste management had been the biggest challenge for the municipality.