Don't waste the chance

When locals from the Bancharedanda landfill site on the Nuwakot-Dhading border went on a strike to prevent the waste of Kathmandu Valley and parts of Kavrepalanchok from entering the area, there was a sense of déja vu.

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After all, whenever Kathmanduites don’t hear the whistles of garbage trucks tooting outside their doors, uncollected waste piles up in their surroundings for several weeks or even months. Yet the strike was called off on Sunday as the interim government swiftly responded to the problem. Minister for Urban Development Kulman Ghising visited the site and pledged to address locals’ demands within two weeks. But can the new government really address this longstanding issue or will this also turn out to be just another empty promise? Locals living near the landfill have repeatedly blocked waste-hauling trucks in order to press successive governments to fulfil their demands, which include the right to live unaffected by landfill sites, effective waste management at the landfill, jobs for locals and infrastructure development. This time, they asked for the withdrawal of the cases filed against local youths by the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) for damaging 18 garbage