Kathmandu, October 6

Kathmandu Metropolitan City today handed over Rs 20 million in compensation to landfill site-affected locals of Okharpauwa in Nuwakot.

Deputy Executive Director at KMC Yubaraj Khanal informed that the metropolis handed over Rs 10 million each to Dhunubesi Municipality and Kakani Rural Municipality.

He said the money would be distributed among locals of Ward No 1 and 3 of the municipality and Ward No 1, 2, and 3 of the rural municipality who had been most affected by the disposal of the Valley’s waste at the landfill site.

Meanwhile, locals of Kagatigaun in Nuwakot obstructed KMC waste carriers almost for an hour today morning, demanding transportation of waste to the landfill site round the clock, according to KMC.

KMC trucks have been carrying waste to the dumping site of Sisdol by 2:00pm each day since 13 years ago.

Initially, the government had planned to use the Okharpauwa landfill site only for 2 years. It had a plan to manage a huge landfill site at Banchare Danda to dump the city’s waste for next 50 years.

According to KMC, recurrent obstructions by the locals putting forth ‘irrelevant’ demands have become a headache for KMC.

KMC expressed its frustration over the locals singling out the metropolis and targeting it, saying that though there were 20 municipalities in the Valley and most of them were getting to use the landfill site daily without any obstruction.

According to a study by Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, KMC, Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City, Bhaktapur Municipality, Madhyapur Thimi Municipality, Kirtipur Municipality and Kalimati fruit and vegetable market alone produce 331 tonnes urban waste daily. After daily collection of waste at Teku, waste carrier trucks carry waste to the Okharpauwa landfill site daily through more than 20 trucks.