Heaps of garbage dumped alongside the roadways and alleys have become too common a sight in the Valley. Although this causes great inconvenience to the locals and the passers-by, the situation has not improved much over the years. The other day, it was reported that the garbage piled up outside the District Public Health Office (DPHO) and the Mental Hospital in Lagankhel is causing a lot of problems for those working in these places. It is ironical that even the DPHO and the hospital vicinity are not spared when it comes to dumping wastes. Rotten fruits and vegetables and wastes from the households are thrown haphazardly on busy roads or in public places. This makes cleaning efforts blatantly useless. Even though the Lalitpur sub-metropolitan city collects the garbage in the morning, the story is the same by the afternoon.

However, the metropolitan office could do more. It is not difficult to increase the frequency of collection rounds. If the garbage is removed twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening, it would help tremendously to at least keep the foul smells from circulating around the area. The locals too could contribute by starting cleanup campaigns of their own. After all, it is they who are the ones most affected by the garbage dumps, which may spread communicable diseases. It is time the residents of Lagankhel took up the issue strongly with the authorities and started something on their own too. In times like this, the citizens need not always wait for the government to take action, especially when it affects them directly.