A section of the crowd greeted Yami´s remarks with a thundering applause. But that was not the end of her litany against the UML-led government. And the possibility of an agreement to end the four-day-long obstruction to garbage disposal at Sisdole Landfill Site, Okharpauwa, Nuwakot, almost shattered. Yami was ostensibly trying to show how the current government has failed utterly to solve people´s day-to-day problems.
Yami´s next target was Minister for Local Development Purna Bahadur Limbu Sherma: "If you doze off while you are supposed to intently listen to people around the area (the representatives of the affected areas), how can a possible solution emerge?" The streets in the capital are strewn with garbage since the last four days after a Maoist led group blocked the vehicles carrying garbage to the landfill site. This is the 53rd time over the last four years that the capital´s sole garbage disposal site has been blocked.
Minister for Local Development Purna Bahadur Limbu Sherma had called a special meeting on Monday to end the garbage disposal problem. The meeting focused on finding out immediate solution to end the blockade and chalking out plans for long-term management of the landfill site. But Yami apparently was determined to play spoilsport. Yami joined chorus with the agitating locals saying, “We will not let the garbage trucks pass through the area until the government makes a written commitment to fulfill our demands.”
A group of CA members including Narahari Acharya, Nabindra Raj Joshi and Suprabha Ghimire suggested the idea of forming a special and authoritative committee to manage the landfill site. Acharya left the meeting when it seemed to him that they were heading nowhere. The government has called yet another meeting on Tuesday to propose the residents of the affected areas a new way to sort out the issue.
The agitating group does not seem enthusiastic though. "We have been called on Tuesday for the next round of talks. We doubt if it will work out," said Ramesh Paudel, a local Maoist leader who heads the group. Some locals, however, begged to differ. They questioned the legitimacy of Paudel as the leader of the group as he does not belong to the affected area.
"The committee led by Paudel is illegitimate," said Shri Ram Ghimire from Okharpauwa VDC-2, adding, "We want an authorized body that represents our locality." Ghimire also asked the government to revise the agreements reached in the past. Sisdole landfill site has frequently come under controversy, especially after the government failed to build a long-term garbage disposal site at Bancharedanda, Nuwakot.
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