The obstruction that had been preventing the disposal of waste in the Kathmandu Valley at the Bancharedanda Landfill site for the past five days has been removed. After the obstruction was removed, vehicles that were stranded on the road and loaded with waste in Kathmandu have headed towards the landfill site.

The obstruction was lifted after Urban Development Minister Kulman Ghising pledged to fulfill the demands of the locals of the Bancharedanda landfill site.

After the locals obstructed the disposal of waste, Minister Ghising, Urban Development Secretary Gopal Sigdel, the Chief District Officers of Kathmandu, Nuwakot and Dhading, and the Executive Officer of Kathmandu Metropolitan City reached the Bancharedanda landfill site on Sunday morning to resolve the problem.

Along with an on-site inspection of the waste disposal site, the team interacted with the mayor of Dhunibeshi Municipality in Dhading, the chairman of Kakani Rural Municipality in Nuwakot, the ward chairmen of the affected wards, and local residents.

Minister Ghising pledged to implement the agreements and contracts reached in the past with the affected residents. He requested not to obstruct the disposal of waste, demanding 15 days to move forward with the process of implementing the agreement.

‘There have been many agreements in the past, I have studied all of them, now I am not here to assure, I will implement, do not obstruct waste management, remove the obstruction and give a message, we will solve the problem amicably through talks and dialogue with the affected, not by using force,’ he said.

A committee comprising all the stakeholders will be formed in coordination with the Ministry of Urban Development to manage the leachate collected by the locals. It has been committed to immediately operate a pump to recycle the leachate collected in the pond to prevent it from going into the river. The pump is currently broken.

A monitoring committee will be formed to address complaints about waste being dumped indiscriminately at the landfill site, consisting of one representative each from the Ministry of Urban Development, Kathmandu Metropolitan City and the affected municipality.

Minister Ghisingh, expressing his commitment to arrange the necessary lighting at the site for nighttime waste management, mentioned that lighting will be started from Monday. Minister Ghising instructed the Executive Director of the Authority, Manoj Silwal, and the Chief of the Nuwakot Distribution Center. He said that the Council of Ministers will take necessary decisions to provide public lands identified in various places to the local level for scientific waste separation. He urged the locals to understand the situation as it would take some time to complete the Supplementary Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as data from four seasons is required to identify the areas affected by the landfill site. Minister Ghising said that the land acquisition process will proceed accordingly as the affected areas will be identified after the EIA. He said that the legal hurdles in the process taken by the Investment Board for long-term waste management will be resolved by involving the Mayors Forum of the Kathmandu Valley.