KATHMANDU: The second-day of the two-day Singha Durbar blockade called by the UCPN-Maoist today saw the major thoroughfares at the country's administrative hub littered with tonnes of waste.

The agitating Maoists gathered on the streets not only to protest but also eat and drink and threw the waste on the streets in utter disregard for public health.

Rabin Man Shrestha, chief of the Environment Management Department at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, projected that at least six tons of garbage was dumped on the streets in two days of Maoist protest.

"We could not send vehicles to collect the garbage due to the security situation," he said, adding that the garbage would be removed tomorrow.

The Maoist gheraoed the government secretariat yesterday as a part of their second phase of agitation aimed at restoring 'civilian supremacy'. After they left, the venue was littered with paper tidbits, plastics and food wrapping materials of astronomical height.

The roads at New Baneshwor, Maitighar, Thapathali, Tripureshwor, Sundhara, Ratnapark, Durbar Marg, Putali Sadak, Bhrikuti Mandap, Bag Bazaar, Dilli Bazaar, Maitidevi and Old Baneshwor looked shockingly ugly with paper-plates, leftover food with flies buzzing about, plastic bottles and cups, among others, scattered here and there.

The shops also bore the brunt as businesses came to a standstill. The traffic remained shut completely in downtown Kathmandu.

Thousands in red handkerchiefs about their forehead and brandishing flags marched across the streets chanting slogans against the government and the President. The Maoists agitation follows the move of the President to reinstate then Chief of Army Staff, who was sacked by the Maoist-led government.

Ramesh Silwal, a businessman at Putali Sadak, said the heap of the garbage abandoned by the crowd had polluted his neighbourhood.

"No sane person will throw rubbish on the streets regardless of people living nearby. But the Maoists did it. The trash should have been collected at certain places when they left the scene," he added.

The scene at Maitighar Mandala, an artistic greenery road island, bore an ugly look with litters, plastic plates and cups, beaten rice and bottles everywhere. The lush green grass on the park was flattened by the protesters in no time.

Meeting put off due to stir

LALITPUR: A meeting of the High Level Committee for Waste Management, which was scheduled to take decision on the publication of expression of interest (EoI) for establishing refuse-fuelled plant in the Kathmandu Valley, was put off due to the agitation by the UCPN-Maoist.

The committee, headed by Dr Dinesh Chandra Devkota, member of the National Planning Commission, consists of secretaries of four various ministries, general manager of the Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre and executive chief of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City. — HNS