More garbage piling up on the streets of Kathmandu

KATHMANDU, JAN 24 -
Daily life in the Valley has been disrupted as a strike called by employees of local bodies has meant that garbage has not been collected from the streets of Kathmandu.

Employees of local bodies a announced the indefinite closure of all local bodies on Thursday. With the halt, over 1,000 tonnes of garbage is awaiting disposal.


“Things have become very difficult for us, what with the garbage piling day by day,” said Rabinman Shrestha, chief of the Environment Department at Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), adding, “Despite our requests, the employees are not ready to end their strike and resume garbage collection.” Shrestha added that protesters were using garbage as a tool to put pressure on the government, and emphasised on the need for this strategy to be stopped.

Last month, Kathmandu saw nearly two weeks of obstruction in garbage collection, following a similar closure announced by local bodies from Dec. 15 to Dec. 27.

The employees withdrew their protests after giving the government an ultimatum of 21 days on Dec. 27. They resumed work when the government formed a committee to discuss their demands in coordination with the Minister for Local Development. The committee formed a subordinate committee to study the demands of the employees in the co-ordination with the Ministry’s secretary.     

However, employees launched a fresh protest following the government’s failure to address their demands with the ultimatum. 

“We waited three weeks, but the government hasn’t show any interest in making amendments,” said Indra Prasad Adhikari, chairman of the Nepal Municipalities Employees Association. “Our protests will continue until the government addresses our demands.”

Meanwhile, the secretary of the Local Development Ministry, Krishna Gyawali said, “The employees should have waited for a few days before announcing the protests.” According to Gyawali, the subordinate committee submitted a study proposal to the ministerial level committee. “The committee is discussing the issue, and I hope a solution is soon reached,” said Gyawali.

source: ekantipur.com