Kathmandu, April 23:

The stinking garbage piled up at various parts of the City for nearly three weeks after the metropolis failed to collect and dump the garbage due to the general strike and imposition of curfew has been badly affecting the locals. The recent rainfall added to the locals’ woes by scattering the garbage and speeding up the decay of garbage.

Locals complained that the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has not collected garbage since the general strike began over two weeks ago. However, CEO of the KMC Padma Raj Regmi said the KMC has been collecting the garbage as much as possible despite disturbances due to the strike and curfew.

The piles of garbage can be seen at different parts of the city including Bhrikutimandap, Ason, Indrachowk, Naradevi, Dhokatole, Chhetrapati, Mhypi, Samakhushi, Chabahil and Bouddha among others. People living in these areas are suffering a lot from the stink. Radhika Bhatta of Mhypi said the stinking garbage has affected the locals very hard. “We are fearing of an epidemic if the garbage is not taken away very soon,” she added.

Locals living in areas like Ason and Naradevi have been affected more due to narrow streets and congested settlement. The people living near the chowks, where the garbage is piled up, are suffering the most.

Regmi said the collection and transportation of the garbage gets interrupted at times when factions of Sundarighat residents oppose KMC to dump garbage there.

Earlier KMC had made an agreement with the locals and the metropolis has also been providing development budget to the area for dumping KMC’s garbage there. “New factions use to come up with more demands thus affecting the regular dumping of the city’s garbage at times,” he said.

Some 320 tonnes of garbage is produced in the metropolis everyday and the KMC is dumping the garbage at Sundarighat. Regmi claimed that some 200 tonnes of garbage is being collected and taken to the dumping site everyday while the rest is being collected at the relay centre situated at Teku. “Due to the strike and curfew, KMC has faced problem in collecting and transporting the garbage from some places for last 16 days.”

Regmi said the KMC is also facing problem to take the garbage to the Okharpauwa dumping site. “However, we are doing our best.”