POKHARA, Feb 12: A growing garbage problem is plaguing the streets of Pokhara, a major tourist destination in Nepal. The tourist town’s waste collection has been disrupted for days due to the blockage of the disposal site by locals. The intersections where Pokhara’s main and inner roads meet are overflowing with garbage. Consequently, a foul odor has begun to permeate city intersections.
Garbage bags can now be seen littering the main street of the market. When Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) became operational, Pokhara Metropolitan City closed the old landfill site in Bachhebuduwa-14 and started managing waste on the banks of the Seti River in Lame Aahal, Pokhara-32. Despite the locals' protests, the metropolis had started dumping waste there for a maximum of six months.
The metropolis had at that time assured the locals that a permanent structure would be built within six months and then stop dumping waste in Lame Aahal. However, the metropolis, which did not work according to the promise, had extended the deadline for a second time and had been dumping waste at the site by signing an agreement with the locals. However, the locals have now obstructed the disposal of waste, saying that the agreement has expired.
Pokhara-32 Ward Chairman Akkal Bahadur Karki said that the locals obstructed waste disposal on the site after the metropolis failed to work as per the agreement and provide the budget. According to him, the previous agreement between the affected area and the metropolis expired on February 5. “The locals obstructed dumping the waste because the work was not done as per the old agreement, and the ward office also failed to provide the budget that they should receive as per the agreement. The metropolis has been dumping garbage here for the past two years,” he said, “It has not even given the budget as per the agreement. The budget provided to the ward is less compared to other wards.”
According to Karki, the metropolis has given ward number 32 Rs 50 million annually for garbage management, but it has cut other regular budgets. “They gave money for garbage disposal, but they have cut the budget on other sectors while other ward offices get a much higher budget than Ward 32,” he said. He said that despite repeated discussions on garbage management, no agreement has been reached yet.
He also said that locals complained that it would have been better if garbage had not been dumped at Lame Aahal at all. Earlier, locals had been obstructing garbage disposal at Lame Aahal. Residents of the affected areas have been obstructing garbage disposal from time to time, citing a lack of development work in the affected areas and a lack of initiatives to stop pollution.
Similarly, Pokhara Metropolitan City's sanitation department chief, Balram Pathak, said that there is room for optimism as talks are underway between the locals and the metropolis. "Negotiations have been ongoing since the garbage dumping was stopped. We are hopeful that an agreement will be reached soon. The city's garbage has not been collected yet," he said.
Pokhara generates 150 to 200 tons of garbage per day. This figure does not include industrial and hospital waste. Similarly, 20 vehicles collect garbage within Pokhara every day. The metropolis has given the responsibility of collecting garbage to six different private companies. These companies have been collecting garbage by collecting fees from each house.
According to Pathak, the garbage from the main road was collected last Sunday and loaded into vehicles, but it has not been collected since then. The garbage loaded into the vehicles has remained in the vehicles and has not been managed anywhere. “Waste management is sensitive. Therefore, it cannot be collected and just dumped anywhere. After negotiations and agreement, the garbage will be collected immediately,” he said, “If all the vehicles are mobilized, the garbage piled up in every house can be collected in a single day. However, an agreement is required for that.”
According to Krishna Prasad Tiwari, information officer of the metropolis, Pokhara-32-based Lame Ahal was made a temporary landfill site two years ago when the metropolis was preparing to operate the PRIA. An agreement was reached between the metropolis and the locals at that time, including the prioritization of development in the affected areas. “The agreement with the residents of the affected area has expired. After the airport was announced to be constructed, garbage was dumped in Lame Aahal as a temporary landfill site,” said Tiwari, “However, the locals are obstructing it by putting forward ‘unreasonable demands and conditions’ in between.”
He said that the locals alleged that the work had not been carried out as per the agreement made with the locals.
According to Tiwari, since it is a landfill site, the ward receives an additional budget of Rs 50 million annually compared to other wards. That is a budget other than the regular budget. “The metropolis has provided a budget for work in the affected area through the ward. But the locals complain that not all the budget has been spent in the affected area. The ward office has also spent all the budget received in the name of garbage instead of spending it in the landfill-affected area,” he said. “There are complaints that the affected area had taken the budget that was meant for its area elsewhere. The affected people may have wanted that budget to be spent only in their area. However, the ward spent that budget elsewhere as well. The residents expressed dissatisfaction by obstructing the garbage dumping.”
Tiwari also said that the process of acquiring land has been initiated to build a processing centre in Bharat Pokhari, Pokhara-33, for the permanent management of garbage in Pokhara. He also said that a letter of intent has been requested under the public-private partnership. "The metropolis wants permanent management of Pokhara's garbage. However, it has not been possible so far," he said.