The cement plant had been polluting the surroundings with dust particles ever since it was established in 1976. With the malfunction of the then installed dust storage equipment, dust particles had been settling over nearby settlements, making life a living hell. Repeated public demonstrations had compelled the factory officials to do some repairs in 1998 but the dust leakage had not stopped completely.[break]
According to senior technician at the factory Tej Bahadur Godar, following the installation of RABH, they have been undertaking a series of test operations and the third trial has been comparatively more fruitful then the previous two. “For this purpose, we closed down the factory for two months and it will be back at work within a week with the new dust storage device,” said Godar.
For more than a decade, 60 tons of cement dust released from the plant used to spread over the nearby settlements, mostly towards Hetauda Municipality Wards 7,8,9,10, and 11, informed a local. “Residents of Churiyamai, Basamadi and and Padampokhari VDCs were also affected by the cement dust,” said the local.
There were no legal provisions requiring environmental impact assessment at the time Hetuada Cement Factory was set up.
Relieved at the installation of RABH, Dal Bahadur Shrestha, secretary of the committee formed to protest against the dust pollution, said, “Now we and the coming generation will breathe fresh air”.
RABH, which was purchased at Rs 125 million, was installed by an Indian construction company. “We can recover this expenditure in two years after the factory comes bck into operation,” said General Manager Ramesh Aryal.
Aryal informed that the factory has produced 1.5 million sacks of cement to date.
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