Kathmandu, January 25:

The protests against the price hike of petroleum products ended on January 23. The Environment Management Division (EMD) of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, however, was busy for the next two days collecting the waste generated during the protests.

The nearly 35 tonnes of waste, chiefly comprising burnt tyres, burnt tree branches, fragments of bricks, were collected from Kalimati, Putalisadak, Maharajgunj, Naxal, Lazimpat, Thamel, Boudha, New Baneshwor and other areas where the protest programmes were organised.

The EMD staffers were helped by YCL members in their task.

Rabin Man Shrestha, EMD chief said the weight of the burnt items alone weighed over 10 tonnes.

According to him, two vehicles full of waste were collected from the Kalimati area alone while another vehicleful was collected from the Bir Hospital area.

The local administration in the valley, during the royal regime, had banned the burning of tyres during protests, citing health and environmental reasons.

Dr Manohar Gupta, chief of the General Practice and Emergency Medicine Department, Teaching Hospital, said the effects of burning tyre does not end with the fire dying, its impact remains for weeks. Also the small fragments get airborne or gets into water sources thus proving hazardous to heath.

“The fumes from burning tyres cause chest infections, carbon monoxide poisoning, lung cancer and even decreases the capacity of the lungs. But by consuming the carbon particles in contaminated water or food items, one may suffer from gastro-intestinal problems or even cancer in the long run,” Gupta said.