Kathmandu, September 11:

Various eight tourism associations have demanded that the government to urgently step in to manage the piles of garbage that has been rotting on the roads in the capital for couple of weeks.

In a meeting held today at Nepal Association of Tour Operators (NATO) under the leadership of NATO president Basant Raj Mishra, tour operators

said they are facing difficulty in sending tourists on sight seeing tours due to the health and environmental hazard posed by large piles of garbage on the city streets.

Expressing shock and indignation some tourists have demanded that tour operators bring forward their departure dates from Nepal as sightseeing is impossible due to the foul stench emanating at almost every street corner and near tourist sites, thus shortening their trips, states a press release issued after the meeting.

Most of the tourists are taking back memories of Kathmandu as a dirty, polluted city with no system to even take care of garbage and the inherent dangers posed by the rotten stinking piles to health of the inhabitants and visitors alike, adds the release.

The representatives of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA), Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN), Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), PATA Nepal Chapter, Tourist Guides Association of Nepal (TURGAN) and Nepal Association of Rafting Agents (NARA) took part in the meeting.

They also asked the ministry of culture, tourism and civil aviation must raise the issue at the highest levels in the government and coordinate with concerned municipality authority and others to find a way out of this literal mess at the earliest.