KATHMANDU: The newly elected mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Bidya Sundar Shakya has reaffirmed his commitment to rid Kathmandu district of dust and smoke at the earliest.

The Capital city has been blanketed by the cloud of smoke and dust for a long time owing to various activities such as road expansion, pipe laying and wanton operation of industries in the vicinity of human settlements among others.

Speaking at a programme organised by the Jyapu Mahaguthi Metropolitan Working Committee in the city on Saturday, Mayor Shakya also pledged to expedite the reconstruction of the quake-damaged heritages in Kathmandu that are of cultural, historical and archeological importance. Shakya argued that the cultural heritages embody the identity of Kathmandu city.

Similarly, touching on the burgeoning problem of dust and smoke in the city, Nepali Congress leader Tirtha Ram Dangol urged the concerned agencies to accomplish the incomplete tasks relating to the expansion of the road in the  city and ban the vehicles being operated without meeting certain criteria.

Likewise, KMC Deputy Mayor Hari Prabha Khadgi pledged to introduce youth empowerment programmes besides prioritising the eco-friendly plans and programmes to transform the city into a green and clean one.

On the occasion, organising Committee's Chair Baburaja Maharjan urged the mayor and deputy mayor to take into consideration the preservation and propagation of the cultural heritages in Kathmandu.

'Much work to do in less time'

Meanwhile, inaugurating the Natural Ayurveda Polyclinic at Koteshwar today, mayor Shakya has said a lot needs to be done within a short duration for the development of Kathmandu.

He also stated that development would not be possible until the employees with old mindset and working style are instilled with new thinking and the old structure is replaced with new one.

The Kathmandu mayor stressed on the need of carrying out study and formulating policies for preserving Ayurveda, an old health treatment system of Nepal.