KATHMANDU, APRIL 3

The week-long obstruction to waste disposal by agitating locals of Kanani and Dhunibesi in Nuwakot ended after Kathmandu metropolis inked a seven-point agreement with the stakeholders yesterday.

Waste Disposal Site Teachers' Management Struggle Committee and Sisdole Waste Management Concern Committee had been up in the arms for the past one week, putting forth various demands. They had obstructed the transportation of waste from Kathmandu to Sisdole Landfill Site.

With persistent obstruction by agitating locals at the landfill site, garbage on the roadside and at various intersections across the city had started piling up every day over the last few days that had not only affected traffic movement and pedestrians but also posed serious health risks to the public.

The obstruction had prompted KMC, earlier this week, to request city dwellers to manage waste by themselves for the time being.

After the seven-point understanding, the protesters agreed to clear their obstruction. Hari Kumar Shrestha, chief of Environment Management Department of KMC, said that more than 400 trucks of garbage were ferried to the landfill site, while the waste piled up elsewhere in the city was being cleared.

As per the agreement, KMC will fund 46 teachers in community schools of Kakani Rural Municipality and Dhunibesi Municipality. The teachers will be appointed by the concerned local levels and will get pay in commensurate with salary fixed by the government. Similarly, the metropolis will provide budget to these two local levels for operation of health services targeting locals affected by the landfill site.

According to KMC, it will also release an annual budget of Rs 30 million each to these local levels of Nuwakot for the development of affected areas. In yet another agreement, KMC has agreed to provide an ambulance to Dhunibesi Municipality.

Waste collected from local levels in the valley has been dumped at Sisdole Landfill Site for the past 13 years. Around 1,000 metric tonnes of waste is generated in the valley on a daily basis. Around 35 private organisations have been collecting waste from doorsteps.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 4, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.