KATHMANDU, AUGUST 16

Police today fired five rounds in the air and lobbed tear-gas shells to disperse protesters who hurled stones at security personnel escorting garbage trucks to the landfill site and obstructed their progress at Bancharedanda, Nuwakot.

Superintendent of Police Dinesh Raj Mainali, spokesperson for District Police Range, Kathmandu, said hundreds of rowdy locals were hurling stones at police from maize and paddy fields on either side of the road. 'We had to fire five rounds in the air to take the situation under control and push the mob back to let trucks carrying garbage from Kathmandu head to the landfill site,' he said. No one was injured in police action, he added.

Police used a loud-hailer to warn protesters not to obstruct movement of garbage trucks, but to no avail. Rather, the mob erupted, got violent, and attacked police to make the situation worse. It was only in the evening that trucks managed to enter the landfill site, said KMC Spokesperson Nabin Manandhar.

At least 200 security personnel were mobilised in and around the landfill site that spreads over 40 hectares, as the locals had been blocking the roads leading to the landfill site for weeks, putting forth demands backed by local leaders of ruling alliance. One of their key demands being the government develop a buffer zone at the landfill site by acquiring their land.

The landfill site at Bancharedanda was recently brought into operation after the Sisdol-based site reached its full capacity. Waste generated in 18 municipalities of the valley except Bhaktapur is disposed of in the new landfill site. More than 300 trucks are needed daily to transport the valley's waste to the landfill site. Not even half of them are reaching the site due to ongoing protests.

Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Balendra Shah blamed the worsening situation on local leaders of ruling parties, including the Nepali Congress, the CPN-Maoist Centre, and the CPN (Unified Socialist). 'Even local leaders of the CPN-UML and the RPP have been colluding with protesters to aggravate waste management and render the newly-constructed landfill site useless,' he alleged. He said waste management infrastructure worth Rs 5 billion was not being put to optimum use, leading to accumulation of heaps of garbage on roadsides across the valley and raising fears of disease outbreak.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 17, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.