With the strike, heaps of garbage remained unattended on the roadsides in Kathmandu as well as Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City on Thursday.
Over 700 solid waste workers belonging to 10 labor unions have stopped garbage collection in the city for an indefinite period after locals of the landfill site manhandled workers and vandalized their vehicles on Wednesday. The workers have maintained that they cannot continue to work risking their lives.
A child had died after being hit by a truck carrying waste to the landfill site.
“It's not the first time locals have threatened to hold our workers hostage or even kill them. Our workers cannot go to work at the site amid such threats. So, there will be no garbage collection and disposal unless the government provides them foolproof security,” said Shiva Jee Bhattarai, chairman of Local Development Workers' Union-Nepal at KMC.
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The locals had torched two dozers, one loader and a tipper along with the truck that crushed four-year-old Rijan Balami to death. A dozer operator said he was working the dozer at the landfill site when a mob of locals came and torched the vehicles.
“When I tried to stop them, they manhandled me. I fled the scene to save my life,” he said, requesting anonymity.
A fire truck driver also sustained injuries after the locals, enraged by the accident, hurled stones at Tinchiple.
Organizing a press conference Thursday at the KMC office, 10 labor unions at KMC said that the government should immediately ensure the security of workers at the landfill site.
“There are only seven police personnel at the landfill site. That is too few to provide security for the workers when locals throng the site menacingly. We have asked the government to ensure adequate security for our workers,” said Bhattarai.
Likewise, they have also said that the government should take action against the locals who were involved in setting fire to the vehicles. They have also said that the government should look for an alternative landfill site.
Hari Kuwar, administrative chief of the Environment Division at KMC, said the arson by locals has caused damage to property worth Rs 40 million.
