Waste collection and removal was affected in the Kathmandu Valley today due to a general strike.
More than 600 metric tonnes of waste is daily produced in the Kathmandu Valley of which the Kathmandu Metropolitan City alone accounts for about 350 metric tonnes.
“We could not collect garbage from Dillibazaar, Baghbazar, Maitidevi and Old Baneshwore with demonstrations as demonstrators burning tyres in those locations,” said Shanta Ram Pokhrel, chief of the KMC’s Environment Management Department. “We managed to collect waste from all other streets despite the strike,” he said.
The demonstrators asked drivers of waste carriers not to proceed to the Sisdole Landfill Site to dump the garbage. “A crowd urged the drivers not to carry waste to the disposal site,” said Pokhrel. “I immediately contacted the protesters, urged them not to obstruct the process and they agreed,” he added. “We will continue waste collection and disposal tomorrow as well.”
About 60 truckloads of waste was ferried to the Sisdole Landfill Site today after the KMC collected waste from different parts of the city to the Teku Transfer Station.
Meanwhile, the KMC has expedited a clean-up campaign that Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai initiated about two months ago.
“We are providing training to people in different wards on ways to keep their surroundings clean,” said Rabin Man Shrestha chief of the KMC’s Environment Management Division. “In the past three days, we have taken action against 15 people for throwing waste on the streets,” he said.
The law provisions a fine of Rs 500 to Rs 100,000 and upto three-month jail for those who throw waste in public places. “We collected Rs 500 from each offender,” he said.
The Waste Management Act 2011 prohibits strike in the waste management sector. The government can use force against the waste disposal disrupting agents as per the rules.
