It doesn’t really require a brick to highlight the issue of air pollution in Kathmandu because unlike other cities it is quite palpable here. All of us, including our decision makers, face it on a daily basis so it would be within logical reason for us to assume that something is being done about it. However, the reality is quite different because the most significant factor for inaction – along with the usual gamut of excuses ranging from lack of funds, understaffing, unclear policies etc – is political and administrative expediency.
Let’s consider vehicle emissions which are a big source of pollution, especially emissions from commercial vehicles of a certain vintage. Almost everyone I spoke to believe that they still ply on the roads because of the existence of a vicious cycle of inadequate infrastructure (at least that’s the official excuse) which necessitates higher taxes on cars, and therefore discourages investment in new ones.
While this may be true to a certain extent, there are people who are brave enough to risk investing. They are often met with no small amount of resistance from myopic and greedy syndicates allied to political parties and bent on preserving the status quo. Hence when a ‘Mahanagar Yatayat’ gets rolled out it becomes news worthy (and gets attacked on the same day). That, of course, is not the only problem and even cities like Delhi and Beijing, with comparatively better infrastructure and affordability of cars, face the same problem.
The other half of the emissions problem then comes in the form of mitigating measures that have been introduced. In Nepal, we have a system called Vehicle Emission Standards (VES) but, as any car owner will tell you, the way this emission testing system is implemented and subsequently defeated will make the folks at Volkswagen look positively saintly. Those green stickers are not worth the paper they are printed on. Not unless a system can be implemented whereby they come with a name and code unique to the person issuing it and the individuals are held accountable in the event of spot checks being done by the police. If ‘Ma Pa Se’ can be randomly checked there certainly is no administrative excuse to not check vehicle emissions.
The other significant contributing factor to the pollution is all of the dust, sand and other particles floating around. The result is that we are covered from head to toe at the end of every single day with assorted construction materials and dirt, not to mention breathing the stuff day in and day out. Our friends and visitors from outside the valley often complain of the accumulation of a distinctive ‘grit’ between their teeth once they arrive here. The scale of pollution is so great that those hideous cloth masks that the majority now consider a sartorial necessity are about as useful to your lungs as a knife in a gun fight.
The reason for this is that Kathmandu – even before the earthquake – seemed to be perennially under construction.These half-baked jobs, incomplete projects and unfinished sites are part of government contracts usually awarded to hangers on of some political party or another.
Hence construction material is dumped on the roads to be replenished again and again till the budget is finished, and jobs are left half complete or even superficially done so that money can be spent repeatedly on the same projects. If everything is completed on time and according to specifications, how on earth are these political goons supposed to make money and funnel the proceeds back to their political masters?
We are slowly suffocating and the many other reasons I’ve not mentioned – lack of electricity dictating the use of diesel generators in factories and offices, the economic blockade (and black marketing) necessitating the use of firewood for cooking, burning garbage for want of an efficient waste management system, brick kilns still operating within the valley, the rampant and haphazard urbanization of Kathmandu – can be distilled down to our political and administrative inadequacies. Add into this mix Mother Nature’s contribution in the form of the valley’s ‘bowl’ shaped topographical disadvantage and it’s a small miracle that all of us haven’t choked to death already.
In the future, if someone nuttier than Nut Brother did come along eventually to make a statement they could probably accumulate enough pollutants to fashion several bricks. In fact, I would wager that if they worked hard enough, and placed themselves strategically in different locations, they might have enough material to build themselves a house in that amount of time. It might be a good way to make a point, but given all the apathy floating around there really is no point.
gunjan.u@gmail.com
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