Waste management
Heap of garbage in front of PMO
Chief Secretary Lilamani Paudyal, who has greatly contributed to Clean Bagmati Campaign, recently asked the public to genuinely work for maintaining the cleanliness of their communities. He cautioned them not to partake in cleanliness campaigns just to "post the pictures on Facebook" for showoff. He warned to impose high penalty to the offenders who dump garbage in the rivers and public spaces. Very good. But here is a question: Is it legitimate to punish the people, when they are compelled to dump waste in the public spaces, while the state run garbage rickshaws and trucks do not reach their communities?
I saw the door-to-door collection of garbage taking place in my area only a few years ago. We were happy to see effective collection taking place in the neighborhood. But I was dismayed to see the garbage collector pushing his cart towards nearby Hanumante River and dump it there. Apparently, he was too lazy to push the cart up the sloppy road towards the garbage truck. Furious with the act, my father scolded the man every time he repeated the act. The police was informed about the incident. He stopped dumping the waste into the river after police warning. But then door-to-door collection system also stopped.
Solid Waste Management Act 2011 and other regulations have strong provisions to deter the offenders. Yet the state fails to make an effective and regular collection of waste from the households.
A few years back Chinese Government had provided a number of dustbins to help our government manage wastes. They were placed along Kathmandu streets. This was a big relief for the street vendors and the shopkeepers. Unfortunately the government decided to remove the garbage bins stating that many were stolen. The decision was also made since the metropolitan had limited human resources and garbage trucks to collect the large pile of garbage. Unsustainable and poor plans often backfire.
Bagmati Cleaning Campaign is set to be an example of a sustainable and successful project for Nepal. It will mark its 100th week soon. It has made remarkable achievements in this period. The campaign has not only helped to maintain the cleanliness of the river areas along Bagmati River, but also alerted the state to come-up with a long-term plan in maintaining the cleanliness of the holy river. The plan executed by Ministry of Rural Development, with financial aid from Asian Development Bank, aims to turn the river water clean enough for 'bathing and washing.' Furthermore, the High Powered Committee for the Integrated Development of Bagmati Civilization has started the construction project to lay drainage pipes along the river bank, which will soon connect all the drainage system to this central tunnel and block the open disposal of liquid wastes into the river. The campaign rightly grabbed the prestigious recognition of 'Asian Townscape Award' from Japan last year.
It takes a sustainable plan to maintain the beauty of town. There is an urgent need to review current waste management system and come-up with long term-plans to maintain country's beauty.
The author writes on environmental issues prayash.koirala@gmail.com
