• Increased use of hoading boards has increased visual pollution

Kathmandu, May 5

Chief of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Ishwor Raj Paudel has claimed that with the government’s active involvement in the control of environmental pollution, citizens can now live in a safe and healthy environment in the city.

Speaking at an interaction programme here today, Paudel said the KMC’s main objective was to keep Kathmandu healthy and livable. He added that the public’s trust in the government will be strengthened if they can deliver quality service.

He said, “The KMC has been trying to work in a team to speed up the works on keeping roads clean and dust-free. Everything needs to go by the law for this. People can only trust a strong government.”

Speaking at the same programme, DIG Mingmar Lama informed that increased distribution of pamphlets and use of hoarding boards by various political parties has increased visual pollution in the capital. He added that traffic congestion has also gotten worse, with nearly 325 motorbikes, and 140 four-wheelers entering the country each day while the road upgradation projects lag behind.

“We have to make the public transport system reliable, comfortable, and timely to reduce dependency on private vehicles. Although road expansion projects are ongoing in many places, the pace of the development projects cannot meet the pace of growth in the number of automobiles in the city,” he said.

Similarly, advocate Padam Shrestha said, “The government must stop giving political parties the permission to pollute the environment while running their campaigns.” Legal Officer at KMC Tika Ram Bhattarai, however, said the KMC were not in position to disallow parties from advertising because it would be an infringement on their right to freedom of expression.