KATHMANDU, April 20: The talks held between the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) on Wednesday to resume collecting garbage from Singha Durbar, Prime Minister’s Baluwatar residence and the Presidential residence ended without any conclusion. This has increased the conflict between the federal government and the Kathmandu Metropolis.

On the instructions of the mayor of the Kathmandu metropolis, Balendra Shah, for the last 10 days, the garbage generated from Singha Durbar, Baluwatar and the Presidential residence has not been collected. On Wednesday afternoon, a discussion was held between the senior staff of the Ministry and representatives of the KMC on the initiative of the urban development ministry.

Rabindra Bohra, joint secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development and Director of the Banchare Danda Sanitary Landfill Site Project Implementation Unit, said that the talks ended without any conclusion. He added that it is an excess of the KMC not to dump the garbage generated in Singha Durbar, Baluwatar and the Presidential residence.

The talks held between the ministry and the KMC on Wednesday to remove garbage from Singha Durbar, Baluwatar and the Presidential residence ended without any conclusion.

On the other hand, Nabin Manandhar, spokesperson for the Kathmandu metropolis, mentioned that the garbage of Singha Durbar, President's Office and Baluwatar will not be collected until the 14 points raised by the KMC are discussed one by one. The KMC’s mayor himself did not participate in the negotiations between the Ministry of Urban Development and the Kathmandu metropolis. Mayor Shah sent the chief administrative officer to the discussion.

Urban ministry sources said that both sides agreed to inspect the landfill site and then negotiate again during Wednesday's discussion.

On Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Shah himself reached Singha Durbar premises. He inquired with the garbage collection staff why no garbage was seen inside Singha Durbar even though the garbage was not collected for nine days.

According to Mitra Ghimire, president of Pariwartan Nepal, on Wednesday, the Mayor called Ghimire and asked him why no garbage was seen inside the Singha Durbar. “But we have recycled most of the garbage inside the Singha Durbar and dumped the unprocessed garbage in the garden in front of the Prime Minister's Office,” said Ghimire, “That's why no garbage was seen in the Singha Durbar complex. But this is not a permanent solution.”

For the past 15 years, the Federal Secretariat Construction and Management Office has entered into an agreement with Pariwartan Nepal for the collection of garbage from Singha Durbar, Baluwatar and the Presidential residence for Rs 6.4 million annually. Therefore, according to ministry employees, the federal government is in charge of waste management of Singha Durbar, Baluwatar and the Presidential residence.

“We built the Banchare Danda landfill site. The landfill site belongs to Kakani Rural Municipality-2 and Dhunbensi Municipality-3. This is not the area of Kathmandu. The KMC has blocked the dumping of garbage at a place that is not part of Kathmandu,” Bohora said, “This is an excess of the KMC.”

According to Schedule 8 of the Constitution and Solid Waste Management Act, 2068, the responsibility of solid waste management lies with the local government, so the KMC cannot interfere with it. Waste management is an essential service. Another senior official of the Ministry of Urban Development said, “If a disease breaks out due to the stench spreading inside the Singha Durbar due to the garbage not being picked up, the KMC should take responsibility.”

The employees of the ministry have prioritized the policy of creating zero waste by managing the solid wastes inside Singha Durbar rather than negotiating with the Kathmandu metropolis. Bohora said that discussions with Health Environment and Action Climate Action Foundation (HECAF) have started for this initiative.

HECAF Chairman Mahesh Nakarmi also said that a preliminary study has been started on the issue of sending the least amount of waste to the landfill site and processing the remaining waste. According to Bohora, if the garbage inside Singha Durbar can be reduced to zero, the Rs 6.4 million that the state has been paying will be saved and on the contrary, the government will get some income from the garbage.

Mayor Shah has stopped garbage collection in Singha Durbar saying that the federal government has not supported the Kathmandu metropolis in matters such as squatter management, roads, peace and security. Singha Durbar, the government seat, generates about five tons of garbage daily.

On the other hand, in the name of waste management, the private sector has been collecting about Rs 2 billion per month from the valley residents.

The private sector is collecting money from the valley residents in the name of garbage collection based on the verbal agreement with the employees of the KMC.

According to  Kathmandu metropolis sources, Rs 150 to 200 million are collected monthly from about 0.2 million households in the Kathmandu Valley and Banepa Municipality in the name of waste management. But there is neither any legal process nor any accounting of the process and management of collecting that money. All that the KMC does in this process is collect a fee of Rs 400 per trip for taking garbage to the landfill site.

 
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