KATHMANDU, April 13: The waste generated daily from the main administrative center of the country, Singha Durbar premises, is being dumped in the garden in front of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). Kathmandu Metropolis has stopped collecting garbage from Singha Durbar, Prime Minister's Residence Baluwatar and the President's Office for the last five days.
About five tons of garbage is collected daily from the Singha Durbar premises. On the instructions of Balendra Shah, mayor of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, the private sector company responsible for collecting garbage has stopped collecting garbage from the Singha Durbar premises since Saturday.
The Federal Secretariat Construction and Management Office has given the responsibility to Pariwartan Sewa Nepal to collect garbage from Singha Durbar, Sheetal Niwas, Minister's Quarters and Chief Justice's residence.
According to Mitra Ghimire, chairman of Pariwartan Sewa Nepal, the garbage generated from Singha Durbar is dug and dumped in a small pit in the central garden between Radio Nepal and the PMO. He said that the garbage to be recycled and the biodegradable waste are separated and dumped in the decaying waste pit.
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According to Ghimire, Mayor Shah’s assistant Bhupdev Shah and KMC infrastructure expert Sunil Lamsal telephoned Ghimire and asked “where did the waste of Singha Durbar go? No garbage was seen inside Singha Durbar. They were interested in me asking whether we pick up the garbage at night,” said Ghimire. Shah’s aides went inside Singha Durbar on Sunday to see for themselves whether the garbage is being collected.
A senior official of the Ministry of Urban Development said that if the garbage generated from the Singha Durbar premises is dumped in this manner within Singha Durbar, there will be no problem for another 15-20 days.
He said, “This is the most irresponsible work of the KMC.” The meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Saturday also decided to alert the Mayor of Kathmandu about the non-picking of garbage in Kathmandu.
Pradeep Pariyar, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Urban Development, said that the Solid Waste Management Act, 2068 has given the responsibility of managing garbage to the local government. He said, “It is necessary to manage garbage together with the federal, provincial and local governments.”
Mayor Balendra Shah telephoned Ghimire on Friday evening and gave strict instructions not to pick up garbage in Singha Durbar, President's Residence and Prime Minister's Residence Baluwatar from Saturday.
The government has been paying Rs 550,000 per month to Pariwartan Sewa Nepal to collect waste from Singha Durbar, Sheetal Niwas, Minister's Quarters and Chief Justice's residence. But for the last three days, the tippers of Pariwartan Sewa Nepal Pvt Ltd, which collect garbage, have not entered Singha Durbar, Baluwatar and Sheetal Niwas. Due to this, the conflict between the federal government and the Kathmandu Metropolis is increasing.
Mayor Shah stopped garbage collection saying that the federal government did not support the metropolis in matters such as squatters management, roads, peace and security. Last Friday, the metropolis tried to evict the slum dwellers in Tinkune, Kathmandu. That attempt was not successful. A few weeks ago, the KMC also made a similar attempt in Thapathali. Even in Thapathali, the KMC had failed. The Kathmandu Metropolis has been asking the federal government to remove the squatters, but the federal government has been withdrawing saying that the legal process for the removal of the squatters has not been completed. The argument of the representative of the federal government is that the responsibility of managing squatters should be given to the squatters commission.
