KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 18
Nepali Army has announced it would clean six peaks of the country this year.
Two years back, NA had cleaned Mt Everest. As per NA, it is preparing to clean Mt Everest, Mt Lhotse, Mt Pumori, Mt Ama Dablam, Mt Makalu and Mt Dhaulagiri.
The NA has targeted to clean the base camps and the areas above it of these six peaks.
The NA has stated that it will collect at least 35 tonnes of garbage from the peaks, with around 18 tonnes of garbage from the areas above the base camps.
The Ministry of Forest and Environment; Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation, Nepal Tourism Board; Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality; Thasang Rural Municipality; Makalu Barun Rural Municipality; Nepal Mountaineering Association; Himalayan Rescue Association; and Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee will joining NA on this peak-cleaning campaign.
According to NA, the campaign will begin from April 13 by handing over the campaign flag to the climbing and cleaning team. And the campaign will end on the World Environment Day on June 5.
The NA has stated that the non-perishable garbage will be brought to the capital by helicopter and land transport.
It will then be handed over to a recycling plant.
The cleaning climbing team includes 43 climbers from the army as well as sherpas and other supporting guides. For the cleaning campaign, the expedition team members are taking training in Jomsom. NA has estimated around Rs 125 million would be needed for the campaign, of which, the Ministry of Forest and Environment will spend Rs 100 million, while the remaining expenses will be borne by NA itself.
The army has stated that joint collaboration with various agencies is necessary to ensure that the mountains are not littered instead of conducting frequent cleaning campaigns. The mountain clean-up campaign was launched in 2019.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NA could not conduct a cleaning campaign last year.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 19, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
