Himalayan News Service

Lalitpur, February 22:

Now, Lalitpur denizens can look forward to a cleaner Lalitpur and wider roads on which to walk or drive.

With effect from February 19, the Lalitpur sub-Metropolitan City (LMC) has set up fixed timings for collection of garbage: 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. or from 7 p.m. onwards. During these fixed hours, 20 vehicles will go around different parts of LMC to collect waste. And no waste collection outside of the above fixed timings, states the LMC.

The information to this effect was given through distribution of pamphlets and megaphone announcement that went around the city. Another step at keeping the city clean was the removal of vendors from the streets of Mangal Bazaar, Tangal and Langankhel. The vendors had been given previous warnings and were removed from the streets on February 17. LMC spokesperson Ashok Shrestha was confident that the rules would be followed strictly. Regarding the fixed garbage collection timings, Shrestha said that it was done in order to minimise the heaps of garbage that accumulate on roadsides as people tend to throw waste at any odd hour of the day. Shrestha said that since the street vendors were hindering the mobility of vehicles and pedestrians, their removal was necessary and hoped the clearance would help lessen the chaos in the city.

He said the newly formed monitoring team comprising five LMC officials had been successful in clearing Tangal and Lagankhel of street vendors, but vendors of curios at Mangal Bazaar had yet to be removed. However, a bangle-seller in the bazaar, Farooq Din, who has been involved in the business for over three decades, voiced his dissatisfaction over the decision and hopes that it would be changed. More than 800 vendors in Lagankhel and hundreds in Mangal bazaar have been affected by the imposition of the rules.