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27 August 2010

Garbage heaps thorn in Valley flesh

KATHMANDU, AUG 26 -
With garbage collection and disposal halted for the last couple of days, more than 1,000 tonnes of solid waste has piled up on the Valley streets.

Garbage has not be collected since Monday, after the people near the Aletar landfill site in Makawanpur district barred Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) from disposing of the trash. They have put forth 14 demands, which include employment for 25 locals, construction of an 80-bed hospital and roads and ambulances.

Stinking heaps of garbage are seen in core city areas such as Naya Baneshwor, New Road, Jamal, Putalisadak, Chabahil, Kalanki, Bagbazar and Sorahkhutte. Passers-by have either been covering their noses or taking quick strides to avoid having to breathe in the polluted air. Garbage has also encroached upon roads, creating hurdles for vehicles.

A pedestrian, Rajesh Rai almost fell at Putalisadak as he slipped over the garbage. “It’s so embarrassing,” the college-goer shared. “The government should seek a lasting solution to the garbage problem.” Shops and restaurants near the garbage heaps are also badly affected by the stench.

This is not a new phenomenon for the people of the metropolis, though. In the last five years, Valley dwellers encountered such piles for at least 61 times. Each time, landfill site locals come up with some demands, forcing the Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre (SWMRMC), a government body, to offer a package of solutions. But the deal is never lasting.

Legal Advisor of SWMRMC, Dipendra Oli said the centre has called the agitating locals for talks on Friday. “We are confused with their changing demands,” said Oli.

Rabin Man Shrestha, Chief of the Environment Department at the KMC, said, often, a group of as few as four locals puts forth demands and obstructs waste disposal. Oli said a “trend” of obstructing waste disposal had developed among the people near the landfill site to press the government to fulfill their demands.

Dismissing Oli’s allegation, Chandra Bahadur Shrestha, an Aletar local, said the government always tried to betray them. “It makes a lot of agreements with us, but they are never fulfilled,” said Shrestha. “We will not withdraw our protest this time around unless the government commits to fulfilling our demands.”

The government is said to be planning to develop and utilise Banchareydanda and other landfill sites between Nuwakot and Dhading as a long-term solution to the Valley’s waste problem. According to Oli, a master plan will be announced in about six months. Once ready, garbage produced in the Capital can be dumped for at least 30 years to come at Banchareydanda.

Call to ensure sanitation right

KATHMANDU: Water and sanitation rights should be enshrined as a fundamental right in the new constitution and the government should prioritise the issue of water and sanitation, one of the major causes of communicable diseases in the country.

Participants at a programme organised in the Capital said this on Thursday. Programme coordinator of Federation of Drinking Water and Sanitation Users-Nepal, Bal Krishna Pokharel, said the new statute should guarantee the rights of every citizen to live in a clean environment and enshrine water sanitation as a fundamental right. He urged Constituent Assembly members to guarantee the rights to water and sanitation as a fundamental right.

According to the water and sanitation body, 40 per cent of the projects related to water and sanitation launched by the government across the country appear to be dysfunctional. The government has targeted to ensure sanitation access for all by 2017. According to an estimation, the government has to invest at least Rs. 7.5 billion in the water and sanitation field annually to achieve the target.

The government has to build at least 10 toilets in each VDC every month to meet the target. According to UNICEF statistics, diarrhoea had claimed the lives of over 2.8 million children under the age of five in South Asia in 2008, which is almost one-third of the total death in the world, 8.8 million children. Every day some 7,762 children die of diarrhoea in South Asia.

Similarly, around 10,500 children below five years of age die in Nepal due to poor sanitation, according to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works.

Member of National Planning Commission Dinesh Chandra Devkota said the government is working through various programmes in the field of water and sanitation and it has highly prioritised the goal to be achieved by 2017. But more needs to be done, he said. (PR)

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