Kathmandu, August 21
The Ministry of Infrastructure Development has summoned local representatives from Kathmandu Valley and other areas affected by the worsening situation at the Bancharedanda landfill site for discussions on waste management.
Mahesh Bahadur Singh, a senior divisional engineer and the ministry’s focal person for environment and premises sanitation, said local representatives have been called to Singha Durbar for a meeting at 1 pm on Friday.
“They have called us for a discussion on waste management at 1 pm,” Singh said.
The Bancharedanda landfill site lies on the border of Dhunibesi Municipality in Dhading and Kakani Rural Municipality in Nuwakot.
Dhunibesi Mayor Balkrishna Acharya also confirmed that he had been invited to the meeting.
“It is a discussion on waste management,” he said.
The meeting comes amid growing concerns over the condition of the Bancharedanda landfill site, which has been used for waste disposal from Kathmandu Valley for the past four years.
The sanitary landfill was constructed by the then Ministry of Urban Development at a cost of more than Rs 1 billion, with plans for it to serve as a scientific waste management facility for 20 years.
Bancharedanda was built to solve Kathmandu’s waste problem. Four years later, it is becoming another Sisdol
However, the site has already reached capacity just four years after waste disposal began.
Waste from 21 local governments, including those in Kathmandu Valley, is being dumped at Bancharedanda, which has increasingly turned into a conventional dumping site similar to the former Sisdole landfill.
Kathmandu Metropolitan City has been managing waste disposal at the site.
A large mound of waste has formed at the landfill, while leachate has started flowing from the accumulated waste. Local residents have also complained that the leachate has overflowed from the dam and entered nearby streams.
Residents of the affected areas have been demanding proper waste management and have called on authorities to ensure that people living around the landfill are not forced to live alongside unmanaged waste.
