Saturday, 30 January 2010
Dharan: The landless squatters residing at the Dharan Municipality has started their protests against the municipality and Nepal Water Supply Corporation demanding the supply of safe drinking water to them. Nepal Settlement and Protection Society, an association affiliated with the landless squatters, complained that despite many appeals made by the Drinking Water Appeal Committee to the concerned authority regarding the setting up of water pipes, no steps has been taken till date.
"Despite many attempts made to the Nepal Water Supply Corporation and municipality, it has not given approval for the set up of taps," Kumar Karki, coordinator of appeal committee said. Karki said that landless squatters were looked down upon in the society and therefore were fighting against such perception. He added that a sit-in programme would be held for seven days where Dharan Municipality and the Nepal Water Supply Corporation would be padlocked for an indefinite period.
The appeal committee said that more than 32,000 landless squatters will participate at the protests programme. The landless squatters said that their protests will be carried until their demands were fulfilled. The committee informed that even though the protest would he held around the city area, the transportation services will not be halted. Out of 12,749 taps at the district, 304 are the public taps, of which only 38 taps are being used by the landless squatters. Meanwhile, Dharan Municipality informed that drinking water will not be provided to the landless squatters.
(Source: The Rising Nepal, January 27, 2010)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Waste collection resumes amidst threat from agitators
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Kathmandu: Under constant vigilance of security personnel, private parties today began collecting trash from the Valley streets but were again threatened by the agitating local body employees’ union. Garbage collection was stalled by the agitating employees since January 21, issuing forth a charter of demands. But the government had refused to comply with their demands, citing that they were ‘unacceptable’.
As a last resort, the government today mobilised private collectors, providing them a security cordon. The five unions, belonging to different political parties, including the UCPN- Maoist, Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, have halted all the works of the local bodies, including the collection and dumping of the waste.
“We disposed about 130 metric tonnes of waste collected from Thamel and Jamal area today at Aletar Landfill Site in Nuwakot,” said Dr. Sumitra Amatya, general manager at the Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre. “However, we have been informed that the private organisations were threatened by activists,” she added. The Ministry of Local Development in coordination with Ministry of Home Affairs decided yesterday to deploy Nepal Police and Armed Police Force to clean the streets. Dr. Amatya, meanwhile, said, “We are compelled to deploy the police to get rid of the garbage menace.”
(Source: The Himalayan Times; Annapurna Post, January 28, 2010)
Kathmandu: Under constant vigilance of security personnel, private parties today began collecting trash from the Valley streets but were again threatened by the agitating local body employees’ union. Garbage collection was stalled by the agitating employees since January 21, issuing forth a charter of demands. But the government had refused to comply with their demands, citing that they were ‘unacceptable’.
As a last resort, the government today mobilised private collectors, providing them a security cordon. The five unions, belonging to different political parties, including the UCPN- Maoist, Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, have halted all the works of the local bodies, including the collection and dumping of the waste.
“We disposed about 130 metric tonnes of waste collected from Thamel and Jamal area today at Aletar Landfill Site in Nuwakot,” said Dr. Sumitra Amatya, general manager at the Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre. “However, we have been informed that the private organisations were threatened by activists,” she added. The Ministry of Local Development in coordination with Ministry of Home Affairs decided yesterday to deploy Nepal Police and Armed Police Force to clean the streets. Dr. Amatya, meanwhile, said, “We are compelled to deploy the police to get rid of the garbage menace.”
(Source: The Himalayan Times; Annapurna Post, January 28, 2010)
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Valley chokes with garbage on streets
28, Thusday January 2010
Kathmandu: Garbage collection from the streets of the Kathmandu Valley has remained suspended due to the agitation of local bodies’ employees across the nation. The employees announced the protest stating that the government did not heed their demands and failed to implement agreements reached with them earlier.
They have demanded amendment to the Local Autonomous Governance Regulations 2066 B.S., permanent status for staffers, promotion policy on a par with civil servants and trade union rights, among others. They have halted all services except state-run ambulance and fire brigade services. Earlier, the government had formed a ten-member panel headed by Local Development Secretary Krishna Gyawali to address employees’ demands. However, their demands have not been fulfilled yet.
Prem Bahadur Singh, Minister for Law and Justice, said garbage removal will resume from Monday. “The ministry might also opt for other options to ensure people’s right to live in a healthy environment,” said Singh. Hari Kumar Shrestha, President of Local Body Employees’ Association, said, “We are not demanding permanent status for all staffers, we have only asked the government to adopt certain examination procedures to choose the right candidates.” Singh termed some demands of the agitating employees unreasonable. He added that it was impossible to make all contract-based staff permanent and wage-based ones temporary. Gangadhar Gautam, President of Local Body Employees’ Union, said the strike would continue until their demands were met. Last month, the Valley saw a two-week-long disruption of garbage disposal due to agitation on the part of local body employees. They had withdrawn their protests issuing a 21-day ultimatum to the government to fulfill their demands. However, the employees have launched fresh protests stating that the government had ignored their issues.
(Source: The Kathmandu Post; The Rising Nepal; The Himalayan Times; Annapurna Post; Rajdhani; Gorkhapatra, January 25, 2010)
Kathmandu: Garbage collection from the streets of the Kathmandu Valley has remained suspended due to the agitation of local bodies’ employees across the nation. The employees announced the protest stating that the government did not heed their demands and failed to implement agreements reached with them earlier.
They have demanded amendment to the Local Autonomous Governance Regulations 2066 B.S., permanent status for staffers, promotion policy on a par with civil servants and trade union rights, among others. They have halted all services except state-run ambulance and fire brigade services. Earlier, the government had formed a ten-member panel headed by Local Development Secretary Krishna Gyawali to address employees’ demands. However, their demands have not been fulfilled yet.
Prem Bahadur Singh, Minister for Law and Justice, said garbage removal will resume from Monday. “The ministry might also opt for other options to ensure people’s right to live in a healthy environment,” said Singh. Hari Kumar Shrestha, President of Local Body Employees’ Association, said, “We are not demanding permanent status for all staffers, we have only asked the government to adopt certain examination procedures to choose the right candidates.” Singh termed some demands of the agitating employees unreasonable. He added that it was impossible to make all contract-based staff permanent and wage-based ones temporary. Gangadhar Gautam, President of Local Body Employees’ Union, said the strike would continue until their demands were met. Last month, the Valley saw a two-week-long disruption of garbage disposal due to agitation on the part of local body employees. They had withdrawn their protests issuing a 21-day ultimatum to the government to fulfill their demands. However, the employees have launched fresh protests stating that the government had ignored their issues.
(Source: The Kathmandu Post; The Rising Nepal; The Himalayan Times; Annapurna Post; Rajdhani; Gorkhapatra, January 25, 2010)
74 percent households lack toilet
Thusday, 28 January 2010
Surkhet: A report made public by the Regional Monitoring and Supervision Office under the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage (DWSS) has pointed out that only 26 percent of the total households in the mid-western region have toilets. The report points out lack of sanitation facilities and safe drinking water as the main reason behind frequent epidemic outbreaks in the region.
According to the report made public on January 22, only 153,117 out of total 591,077 households in the mid-western region have toilets. Kalikot has the lowest number of toilets. Of the total 16,725 households in Kalikot, only nine percent have toilets.
According to the report, Jumla has the highest number of toilets. Over 35 percent households in Jumla have toilets. Similarly, 66 percent households in Surkhet lack toilets. Prem Krishna Shrestha, divisional engineer at DWSS, points out sanitation as a major problem in the mid west.
(Source: Nagarik, January 25, 2010 )
Surkhet: A report made public by the Regional Monitoring and Supervision Office under the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage (DWSS) has pointed out that only 26 percent of the total households in the mid-western region have toilets. The report points out lack of sanitation facilities and safe drinking water as the main reason behind frequent epidemic outbreaks in the region.
According to the report made public on January 22, only 153,117 out of total 591,077 households in the mid-western region have toilets. Kalikot has the lowest number of toilets. Of the total 16,725 households in Kalikot, only nine percent have toilets.
According to the report, Jumla has the highest number of toilets. Over 35 percent households in Jumla have toilets. Similarly, 66 percent households in Surkhet lack toilets. Prem Krishna Shrestha, divisional engineer at DWSS, points out sanitation as a major problem in the mid west.
(Source: Nagarik, January 25, 2010 )
Melamchi tunnel construction could not start
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Sundarijal: The tunnel construction works of the Melamchi Water Supply Project have not started yet even after six months of the laying of foundation stone of the project by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal. PM Nepal had laid the foundation stone in Sundarijal, the last point of the tunnel, on August 3.
Tunnel construction works have not started even in Sundarijal though it was said that tunnel works would be started from eight places soon after the laying of the foundation. The locals have been padlocking the site office of the project for the past six months saying that the foundation stone was laid in Sundarijal of Kathmandu instead of Helambu of Sindhupalchok, the entry point of the tunnel. The locals have declared that they will not allow digging the tunnel from any of the sites of the district saying their demands were not addressed.
As the digging of tunnel has been in confusion, the China Railway 15 Bureau Corporation and China CMIIC Corporation workers have also left Sundarijal. Although the contractor company had said it would complete the works in four years and four months, the deadline may be extended as no works have been done in six months. The contract mentions that the tunnel would be completed and water released in Sundarijal by December 2013. The tunnel construction is an important work, which constitutes 27 percent of the total work.
Although construction was to start in 2002, it was postponed for five years after the donors World Bank, Norway and Sweden backtracked from the project and the works restarted with Asian Development Bank cooperation on a condition to give the drinking water management of the Kathmandu Valley to the private sector. A 26.014 km tunnel is needed to bring water of the Melamchi River from Helambu of Sindhupalchok to Sundarijal of Kathmandu. The project has already constructed project access road.
The Melamchi project was started in 1998 with a view of supplying clean drinking water to increasing population of Kathmandu valley. Admitting that the tunnel works were delayed, Executive Director of the Melamchi Project Hari Prasad Sharma told that lengthy process of acquiring license for the explosives needed for the project delayed the tunnel construction. He told that 1,100 tonnes of explosives is required to construct tunnel and the project is preparing to bring other explosives and materials from Lhasa and Hyderabad. “As soon as the explosives arrive, the tunnel works will be started from eight places simultaneously, he added.
Source: Gorkhapatra, January 26, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Waste piling, cops may get into action
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 (http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/)
Kathmandu: Garbage collection in the Kathmandu Valley was disrupted for the fifth consecutive day today owing to a strike called by local bodies’ unions. About 600 metric tonnes of waste, including about 350 metric tonnes from the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, is produced in the valley every day.
“We were unable to collect garbage from streets and dispose them in landfill sites after cleaners did not report for work,” said Rabin Man Shrestha, chief of the Environment Management Department at the KMC. “We cannot do anything unless the workers get back to work,” Shrestha said. Indra Prasad Adhikari, president of the Nepal Municipal Employees’ Association, said they will not allow garbage collection until and unless their demands are met. “We will immediately call off our strike if the government approves a draft of the proposed amendments to the Local Self Government Regulations,” he added.
According to the KMC, about 1,500 metric tonnes of garbage has piled up in the Kathmandu streets. Krishna Gyawali, secretary at the Ministry of Local Development, said the government has been looking for alternative ways to manage waste. “We are likely to mobilize the police force to dispose garbage from tomorrow,” he said. “Consultations in this regard are on,” he added.
Source: The Himalayan Times; Annapurna Post, January 26, 2010
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 (http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/)
Kathmandu: Garbage collection in the Kathmandu Valley was disrupted for the fifth consecutive day today owing to a strike called by local bodies’ unions. About 600 metric tonnes of waste, including about 350 metric tonnes from the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, is produced in the valley every day.
“We were unable to collect garbage from streets and dispose them in landfill sites after cleaners did not report for work,” said Rabin Man Shrestha, chief of the Environment Management Department at the KMC. “We cannot do anything unless the workers get back to work,” Shrestha said. Indra Prasad Adhikari, president of the Nepal Municipal Employees’ Association, said they will not allow garbage collection until and unless their demands are met. “We will immediately call off our strike if the government approves a draft of the proposed amendments to the Local Self Government Regulations,” he added.
According to the KMC, about 1,500 metric tonnes of garbage has piled up in the Kathmandu streets. Krishna Gyawali, secretary at the Ministry of Local Development, said the government has been looking for alternative ways to manage waste. “We are likely to mobilize the police force to dispose garbage from tomorrow,” he said. “Consultations in this regard are on,” he added.
Source: The Himalayan Times; Annapurna Post, January 26, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Municipalities sans dumping sites
KATHMANDU: Only four of the 58 municipalities across the country have a garbage management system, facilitated with landfill sites. The Local Self Governance Act is also silent on dumping sites and waste management, including trash reuse.
Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City, Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City and Tribhuvan Municipality in Ghorahi of Dang use landfill sites to dispose garbage.
Neither the government nor the local bodies initiated measures to resolve the garbage problem in the cities and towns, said Bidur Mainali, general secretary, Municipal Association Nepal. "The government should formulate appropriate policies in order to address the problems concerning environment and public health," he said.
Forty -one local bodies are awaiting to be declared as municipalities. Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesperson, MoLD, said no law had a specific provision on garbage management. "Population, income, electricity and communication as well as other infrastructures are mandatory for a municipality," he said. "The present law has provisioned only collection, transportation and dumping of waste," he added.
"Garbage should be used as a resource in the present sense of management," Thapaliya said. "The government should allocate funds to manage waste in the local bodies." The amendment bill on Waste Management, proposed almost a year ago, envisages proper waste management. Waste management has been a great challenge in Biratnagar Sub-Metropolitan City, Birgunj Sub-Metropolitan City and Dharan Municipality.
Sixteen municipalities are using forest land for disposing garbage, which is objectionable, said Mainali. "The remaining ones have been depositing refuse anywhere they like," he said. "Bhaktapur, Madhyapur Thimi and Kirtipur municipalities have been throwing waste on river banks and public places."
Dr Sumitra Amatya, General Manager, Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre, said they were inspecting the situation of waste management in municipalities across the country.
"With the help of UN Habitat, we have designed landfill sites for Ghorahi, Dhankuta, Janakpur, Baglung and Tansen municipalities and the plan is being implemented in Ghorahi and Dhankuta," she said. "US$ 365,000 has been allocated to 10 additional municipalities for landfill site management.
Of the total fund, SWMRMC will bear 35 per cent, UN Habitat 45 per cent and concerned municipality 20 per cent.
"We are going to expand this project to 10 more municipalities in the near future," she added.
(SOURCE: The Himalayan Times, 26th Jan, 2010)
Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City, Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City and Tribhuvan Municipality in Ghorahi of Dang use landfill sites to dispose garbage.
Neither the government nor the local bodies initiated measures to resolve the garbage problem in the cities and towns, said Bidur Mainali, general secretary, Municipal Association Nepal. "The government should formulate appropriate policies in order to address the problems concerning environment and public health," he said.
Forty -one local bodies are awaiting to be declared as municipalities. Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesperson, MoLD, said no law had a specific provision on garbage management. "Population, income, electricity and communication as well as other infrastructures are mandatory for a municipality," he said. "The present law has provisioned only collection, transportation and dumping of waste," he added.
"Garbage should be used as a resource in the present sense of management," Thapaliya said. "The government should allocate funds to manage waste in the local bodies." The amendment bill on Waste Management, proposed almost a year ago, envisages proper waste management. Waste management has been a great challenge in Biratnagar Sub-Metropolitan City, Birgunj Sub-Metropolitan City and Dharan Municipality.
Sixteen municipalities are using forest land for disposing garbage, which is objectionable, said Mainali. "The remaining ones have been depositing refuse anywhere they like," he said. "Bhaktapur, Madhyapur Thimi and Kirtipur municipalities have been throwing waste on river banks and public places."
Dr Sumitra Amatya, General Manager, Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre, said they were inspecting the situation of waste management in municipalities across the country.
"With the help of UN Habitat, we have designed landfill sites for Ghorahi, Dhankuta, Janakpur, Baglung and Tansen municipalities and the plan is being implemented in Ghorahi and Dhankuta," she said. "US$ 365,000 has been allocated to 10 additional municipalities for landfill site management.
Of the total fund, SWMRMC will bear 35 per cent, UN Habitat 45 per cent and concerned municipality 20 per cent.
"We are going to expand this project to 10 more municipalities in the near future," she added.
(SOURCE: The Himalayan Times, 26th Jan, 2010)
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