Posted on 2009-06-19
Lalitpur: Locals and commuters alike are at the receiving end due to the heaps of stinking garbage piled up at Lagankhel bus park. Every passer-by has to close his nose while crossing the area, so does every passenger getting off the buses at Lagankhel, thanks to the apathy of the authorities to clear the garbage.
Shital Lama says she feels nauseated while passing Lagankhel. Though she has to visit Lagankhel only occasionally, she catches flu after passing through the area.
Over 15 tons of decaying garbage has piled up at the bus park area. Besides affecting the health of locals and passers-by, this has caused difficulties in parking public vehicles, says Ramji Thapa, a microbus driver.
Renu Karki, who has been selling vegetables near the bus park for a decade, has however learnt to bear with the situation. "What else can I do? I cannot just run away. I have to feed my family," says Renu.
In the past, the situation was not that bad, Renu says. She says the municipality used to lift the garbage twice a day in the past, but it doesn´t even clear the garbage once these days. Locals said a number of slaughterhouses dump their waste in the bus park area.
Environment section chief of Lalitpur sub-metropolitan city Pradip Amatya says the as the amount of garbage is increasing, the authorities are having a tough time managing waste. He says even private sector garbage collectors dump waste at Lagankhel, compounding the municipality´s problems.
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