KATHMANDU, JUNE 10

Piles of garbage accumulated around Kathmandu valley are likely to be removed tonight after locals of Sisdol area, who had been obstructing waste management at the landfill site, sealed an 18-point agreement with Kathmandu Metropolitan City and a separate agreement with the Ministry for Urban Development, ending the weekslong stalemate.

The locals have also agreed to allow waste management at the newly- built Bancharedanda landfill site.

The stalemate with locals of Sisdol ended after KMC agreed to meet all their demands, including dumping garbage at the landfill site at night and building physical infrastructure - roads and lampposts - in the area within three months.

KMC has agreed to work on reducing the foul smell emanating from trash and adopting scientific methods of waste management within one month. It will also use scientific methods to prevent leachate (from the landfill site and trucks carrying waste) from damaging the environment within two months.

The agreement was signed by chairpersons of Wards No 1 and 2 of Kakani Rural Municipality and chairpersons of Wards No 1 and 2 of Dhunibeshi Municipality on behalf of the people of the affected areas yesterday night.

Today, the struggle committee representing locals of Sisdol reached a verbal agreement with the MoUD, after which the struggle committee withdrew its protest.

Residents of the affected areas had continued to obstruct the landfill site although a similar tripartite agreement was made to allow waste management at the landfill site.

Shree Ram Dhungana, coordinator of Sisdol Landfill Site Struggle Committee, told THT that the protest was withdrawn after receiving assurance from Minister of Urban Development Ram Kumari Jhankri that their demands would be met, along with sincere apology to locals.

'The minister has promised to address some of our concerns immediately and getting Cabinet approval for addressing our other demands.

We hope that we won't be cheated this time,' Dhungana said.

It was also agreed to form a committee to review the progress being made on addressing locals demands on a weekly basis.

As per the agreement, the government will carry out Environment Impact Assessment to mark 'actual affected' area of the landfill site and later acquire the land. However, before acquiring the land, the government must transfer the ownership of some Guthi land into names of locals.

To facilitate that the Ministry of Urban Development has agreed to amend the Guthi Act, if need be. Locals in the area have told THT that around 1,500 ropani land should be acquired by the government to operate the Bancharedanda landfill site.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 11, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.