Madhyapur Thimi, April 15:

Least bothered about pollution in the Manohara river, local farmers clean their vegetables in the river waters before taking them to markets. Dil Krishna Ghaju supplies about 1,000 kg of carrot every day in vegetable markets. He cleans carrots in the morning.

Least bothered about sewage flowing from the Sinamangal Land Plotting Project (SLPP) into the river, other farmers also wash their vegetables there. Tulshi Kumar Kauri says, “Cleaning carrot in tube well waters makes the carrots black,” he says, adding, “We wash carrots in the river waters to retain their natural colour.”

Says Satya Narayan Shah, an engineer at the Madhayapur Thimi Municipality, “The SLPP is polluting the river by feeding sewage into it. “Though a treatment plant has been built, the plant does not have the capacity to treat sewage.”

“We have asked the SLPP to stop draining sewage into the river, but to no avail.”