KATHMANDU, AUGUST 11
Angered by the government's failure to fulfil their demands, locals of Sisdol and Bancharedanda, the two landfill sites, have threatened to obstruct dumping of garbage at those sites from August 17. At present, not even 100 garbage trucks are dumping solid waste at the two sites, as the approach roads to the two sites are in bad shape due to rains. Normally around 200 trucks ferry garbage from Kathmandu valley to these landfill sites everyday.
Work at Bancharedanda landfill site began in 2007 with a target of completing the structure to manage solid waste within two years, but authorities have failed to do so. On June 7, the government decided to operate the 'under construction' landfill site after signing a deal with locals. The deal was sealed after a months-long stalemate at Bancharedanda landfill site ended when the then minister of urban development Ram Kumari Jhankri agreed to fulfil the long-standing demands of Sisdol Landfill Site Struggle Committee.
The government agreed to form a technical committee to figure out the environmental impact of the landfill site and how much land the government would need to acquire to manage waste there. Authorities were supposed to start work on this pronto, but that never happened. Even after two months of signing the deal no progress has been made. This has enraged locals, who have decided to stop garbage ferrying vehicles at Tinpiple if the government fails to form the promised technical team within two working days.
"The government has fooled us for almost two decades, but we do not want to be fooled again. We won't let any truck inside the landfill site if the government does not fulfil its pledge," Shree Ram Dhungana, coordinator of the Sisdol Landfill Site Struggle Committee, told THT.
Ward no 1 of Dhunibesi Municipality of Dhading, where Bancharedanda landfill site is located, also issued a notice a few days ago saying it would not allow any vehicle to reach the landfill site from August 17.
Locals residing around the landfill site have been demanding that the government should acquire more than 750,000 square metres of land from locals at market price. They are also demanding that the government first transfer the ownership of thousands of square metres of Guthi Sansthan land that they have been cultivating to their private ownership before buying plots of land from them.
But government is reluctant to accept this demand, as it has already acquired 400,000 square metres of land from the public before creating the dumping site.
Kathmandu Metropolitan City said management of waste would restart as soon as monsoon got over.
"We have signed an agreement with locals to allow us to dump waste at landfill sites," said Bhoopa Dev Shah, personal aide of Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah.
Shah has vowed not to give interview to media unless they solve the waste management problem in the valley. Local leaders from Kathmandu, Dhading, and Nuwakot have signed deals with KMC. Some locals, however, say agreements with local leaders are flawed and they will not abide by them. They said they would continue to protest as per the decision of Sisdol Landfill Site Struggle Committee.
Only a few days ago some vehicles used for waste management were vandalised by unidentified miscreants. Mayor Shah blames locals for this, but locals accuse KMC of trying to complicate the situation.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 12, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
