Kathmandu, September 27:

Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has not been able to transport garbage to the Sisdole Landfill Site due to the lack of a bulldozer, Dinesh Thapaliya, the chief executive officer of the only metropolis of the country, said today.

The KMC has been calling on the government to provide it with a bulldozer so that it can transport garbage to the landfill site soon, he said.

“We do not know whether the dispute among the locals of Sisdole has been resolved,” said Thapaliya, adding, “Only after taking garbabe to Sisdole can we know what the locals have in mind.”

He said, “We’ll raise the issue before the Cabinet.” He hoped that the government would make available a bulldozer soon after Dashain.

Due to rains, the KMC had been finding it difficult to collect garbage. “We have begun collecting all the garbage from today as the sunny days are back again,” he said. Rabin Man Shakya, the chief of the Environment Department at the KMC, said the metropolis had allocated Rs 5 lakh for Sisdole, but has not handed over the sum to the locals. “However, we cannot create jobs as demanded by them,” he said.

The general manager of the Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre (SMRMC) under the Ministry of Local Development, Gunaraj Ghimire, said the government had begun connecting telephone lines and electrifying the village. The government can never meet all demands put forth by the locals, he said.

However, Sriram Dhungana, the treasurer of the Main Coordination Committee of the Okharpauwa Temporary Landfill Site, said the government had not taken any concrete step towards meeting the locals’ demands. It initiated the construction of an alternative highway from Okharpauwa to Galchchi, but the work was halted long ago.

“The government fears to transport garbage just because the officials have not even tried to meet the locals’ demands,” he said. “The officials have not yet called the coordination committee for talks. Instead of making efforts to solve the problems, the officials are protracting them.”

He said the locals were compelled to oppose the transportation of garbage to Sisdole because people have been affected as garbage has not been managed properly.