KATHMANDU, JULY 30: Garbage dumped in the streets of the capital for eight days now will be collected and disposed at Sisdole Landfill Site in Nuwakot district from Friday following an agreement reached between the government and agitating locals Thursday.[break]
Apart from cleaning out the garbage-- some 5,000 tons-- accumulated in the streets, the agreement seeks to put an end to this long-standing malady of the fast-growing capital city.
To make this 53rd garbage obstruction the last one, the government has agreed to speed up construction of a Central Lanfill Site at Bancharedanda in Nuwakot. An action plan will be prepared at the earliest, the agreement reads. The existing Sisdol Site will be improvised to accomodate garbage disposal until the Bancharedanda site is ready.
Under-secretary at the Ministry for Local Development Danda Raj Ghimire and local representatives of political parties had signed the agreement in the presence of the minister of state for local development. The signing took place in the presence of representatives of the Ministry for Finance and the Ministry of Education. Talks had been prolonged for three days as the agitating group led by a local Maoist leader held back time and again, insisting on their demands.
In view of controversy about the affected area, an independent study will be carried out by an acclaimed institution to ascertain the extent of that area, said Dipendra Oli, legal officer of the Garbage Management and Resource Mobilization Centre (GMRMC), the government agency which brokered the talks.
A high-level mechanism of CA members, to be assisted by a technical team, will be formed to draft a broad development plan for the affected area. This will purportedly ready the elected representatives to handle the issue which has always remained a point of contention between GMRMC, Kathmandu Metropolitan City and the locals.
The government and the locals have agreed to form an authorized body involving local and political representatives to take charge of the landfill site. An all-party mechanism formed four years ago had become defunct as the locals obstructed garbage disposal for 72 days.
Besides the policy-wise agreement, both sides have agreed on some infrastructural issues also. The much-hyped alternative Okharpauwa-Galchi highway has been given a 2016 deadline. Work is to begin with the construction of a bridge at Ratamate this year. Similarly, pending and ongoing projects at Chatredeurali and Okharpauwa will be speeded up.
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