If the government cannot utilise the fund as per its vision and objects, it should stop collecting the fee
The government has been collecting indirect taxes from the consumers for specific purposes for many years, but the collected funds are hardly utilised properly due to lack of its institutional capacity.
Other separate entities such as the Nepali Army, Nepal Police and Foreign Employment Welfare Fund under the Department of Labour also collect funds for specific purposes. These funds are collected for the purpose of providing relief assistance to the concerned persons and their dependents when they need them the most. Apart from these funds, the government also collects fees for controlling air pollution at the customs points. But this fund has not been utilised properly. Under the Finance Act, the government is allowed to levy a pollution charge of Rs 1.50 per litre on petrol and diesel to be sold and distributed inside Nepal. As per the 59th annual report of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG), submitted to the president last week, the Ministry of Forest and Environment has collected a whopping Rs 12.81 billion in pollution control fees from fiscal 2008-9 to fiscal 2020-21 and Rs 3.38 billion was raised in last fiscal.
Despite collecting such huge amounts of money from the source or the customs point, the government does not seem to be spending it for the prevention and control of air pollution for which the fee was collected, the OAG has said. As a result of the government's inaction, the citizens have not been able to enjoy their fundamental right to live in a healthy environment as guaranteed by the constitution. Air pollution is one of the major problems, especially in the Kathmandu Valley, where a largest number of fossil fuel-run vehicles ply the streets, causing various respiratory health problems to the public. Kathmandu is one of the 10 worst polluted cities in the world.
The Kathmandu Valley Air Quality Management Action Plan-2020 has a vision of ensuring 'clean and healthy air'. It has set eight objectives to realise the vision, which include reducing out-door pollution generated by the transport and construction sectors, industrial and household waste, reducing indoor pollution and raising awareness about the condition of air pollution, among others. However, the government has done nothing to control the rising level of air pollution despite collecting such a huge amount of money from the public. The main question here is, why did the government decide to levy the pollution charge when it could not not utilise the fund? This fund could have been used to phase out the old vehicles and shifting the brick kilns and factories out of the Valley to improve the air quality in the densely populated federal capital and other cities, where the population keeps growing every year. The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, which is the sole body to discuss the OAG report, should take up this issue with the government for the effective utilisation of the fund raised to control air pollution. The government will no longer require to spend billions of rupees on public health should it properly utilise the fund for improving the air quality in line with the WHO standard and making all the cities neat, clean and green. If the government cannot utilise the fund as per its vision and objects, it should stop collecting the fee.
Contaminated water
The reason why people buy bottled water for drinking is because they don't trust the mains water. The water supplied by the public water supply system must be boiled and filtered before it is drinkable and is also erratic. However, random testing of jar water has shown it to be just as contaminated, rendering it undrinkable. During monitoring of drinking water bottling plants operating at Jhaukhel in Bhaktapur recently, algae and worms were found in the water jars ready for sale. And this is not the first time such negligence by bottling plants has been reported. Just weeks back, even coliform bacteria were found in jar water during tests carried out in the wake of the cholera outbreak in the Kathmandu Valley.
Access to safe water is key to good health. But we see outbreaks of water-related diseases year after year not only in the rural areas but also in the urban centres because people are drinking water contaminated by sewage and other pollutants. But for the price that one pays for spring water, one would have at least expected it to be free of contaminants. Unless the concerned authorities shut down such erring bottling plants and hand down heavy penalties to their operators, the sale of contaminated water will continue.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 22, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.