Himalayan News Service

Syangja, February 1:

The practice of disposing garbage and extricating on the banks of the Araudi is polluting the river.

Locals said they were compelled to continue with the practice as there was no other option.

There is just one public toilet in the area and most houses do not have toilets.

Advocate Shashi Kumar Upadhyaya said the people’s indifference to constructing toilets and the use of the riverbanks, roadside and open fields for the purpose was also polluting the river, which lies near the Syangja bazaar, the district headquarters of Syangja.

Dalli Nepali, a laundrywoman, said piles of garbage at the riversides had made it difficult for people to wash clothes.

“Prominent people could have refrained from dumping garbage here. Common people like us are more affected by such a practice.”

Chemicals dumped in the river also affect the fauna.

The District Agriculture Development Office (DADO) has confirmed that the contaminated water has killed some buffaloes and harmed crops.

The municipality has asked the people not to dump garbage on the riverbanks.

Executive officer of the Putalibazaar municipality, Hum Nath Dhakal, said pollution level would go down drastically if people dumped the garbage at the site selected by the municipality.

Dhakal said strict action would be taken against polluters.

The municipality does not have enough tractors to collect garbage. Every day, some four metric tons of garbage is produced in ward numbers 1, 4 and 5 of the municipality, which are densely-populated.