Environment
How much garbage do you think is piled up along the Kathmandu roads and river corridors?
The ongoing back-and-forth between valley mayors and locals at Banchare Dada has turned the streets of Kathmandu valley into an open garbage dump with trash littered on practically every street and junction as far as the eye can see.
Sunil Lamsal, an engineer and waste management consultant at Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Mayor Balen’s secretariat says the total volume of garbage should be over 9,000 metric tons - enough to load 1,800 garbage trucks.
He said: “Waste management has become a political drama. Different political parties including those in government are creating hurdles.
“The garbage piled up on the roadside is not just weeks old, the backlog has been there for months. We have been facing the problem from locals since the beginning. The monsoon aggravated the problem.”
Experts say the growing piles of garbage could lead to public health crisis. Flooded rivers of the valley following last week's heavy rainfall swept away huge amounts of garbage.
Lamsal said: “The valley produces over 150 truck loads of garbage in a day, and if we can transport 300-350 trucks each day that makes the current backlog nearly 10 days long.”
“And even today, over 200 tipper trucks have already left the valley carrying the waste.”
“At KMC, we have already allocated the budget to carry out the agreements made to the locals previously. The ongoing protests around the dumping site are uncalled for and politically motivated,” he added.
Why the protests?
He suspected that it is being carried out to "protect the culprits" involved in the vandalism of the waste management vehicles a week ago. “KMC has filed a case and the investigation has already begun; the protest is meant to pressure the metropolis to abandon the investigation.
“New demands over the already agreed upon 18 demands” and the “unwillingness” of the people to sit for an agreement have put the KMC officials in a tight spot.
“We have an agreement with the local authority there. But this new protest is political and the mayor can’t sit with political leaders for discussions; we do have protocols."
KMC officials say talks could help resolve the crisis.
Lamsal said: “The locals should talk with their local government because that is the protocol.”
So, is the metropolis getting any support from the federal government?
KMC is taking help from the police department to secure the convoy of dump trucks. Even so, protestors are using every excuse as an opportunity to pelt stones at the trucks carrying the garbage to Banchare Dada.
Lamsal said: “As political leaders are involved in the protest, the protest can be ended with a simple nod from the federal government. But that is not happening.”
“Police protection is the only help we are getting from the government.”
After the closure of the Sisdol site, Banchare Dada, located 20 kilometres northwest of Kathmandu, is the only landfill to dispose of the solid wastes generated from 21 municipalities in the valley.
Frustrated at the impasse, KMC Mayor Shah wrote on his Facebook page on Monday, August 15: “The state has already invested more than 5 billion rupees, and these protests have put the investment and two decades-long planning in jeopardy.”
He requested everyone to cooperate so as to manage the waste, and asked not to bring “personal gains” over this garbage crisis.
