Suffering the unbearable garbage stink drifting from the Sisdole landfill site for months, residents have offered 500 ropanis of their land in Chape Kholsa gorge as an alternative dumping site to the civic authority that has done little to resolve the problem.

Residents made the offer because the capacity of Sisdole garbage dump is full since months. The decaying organic waste spreads a sickening stench and exposes residents to various health risks,  residents complained.

Kakani Rural Municipality Ward-2 resident Rajan Prasad Neupane said, “Neither the government nor the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has found an alternative to Sisdole landfill site. People living in the capital do not know the acute problem we face here daily. After our meeting with the villagers residing here, we decided to hand over the gorge to the government to use it as a garbage-dumping site.

The site offered by residents lies 50 metres east of Sisdole dump. The gorge spreads over 500 metres. A section of the gorge borders Sisdol landfill site. The government has acquired a part of the land.Residents are ready to give 500 ropanis of land. The gorge is part of government land. The metropolis can easily handle the Valley’s garbage for the next three decades, said Neupane.

KMC officials say the new dumping site in Banchare Dada would be ready in approximately five years. The proposed infrastructure spreads over 1,792 ropanis. Banchare Dada is almost two kms west of Sisdole.The government’s Solid Waste Management Technical Centre had earlier approved Chape Kholsa as an appropriate site to dump garbage because hills surround the gorge from three sides.

KMC Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya has said the metropolis alone cannot construct the costly infrastructure. It seeks investment from the federal government. This plan rots in limbo due to the lack of co-ordination between the metropolis and Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration.

Sisdole, 27kms southwest of Kathmandu, was a gorge a decade ago. In 2005, the KMC started dumping garbage collected from the Valley into the gorge that spread over 740 ropanis of land. KMC has been continuously dumping garbage at this site for the last 14 years. Talking to the Post, Kakani Rural Municipality Ward-2 Chairperson Kedar Paudel said, “We are deprived clean air for over a decade.

Many residents have major health issues. Our life is like living in hell here.” The KMC’s inability to find a solution to the problem of dumping garbage has inflicted multiple risks on local residents. They have been facing various problems from health hazards, drop in the quality of crops, to leeches that thrive in garbage. Many residents suffer respiratory problems, diarrhea and the menace of houseflies.

The metropolis has compensated families residing up to 900 metres from Sisdole. “Just providing seasonal money will not solve our daily problem. The metropolis has not shown any interest to find a solution to our problems. This is the why we have taken this initiative,” said Neupane, who is also a social worker in the village.

Residents say they are ready to plant trees in the present landfill site. “These are the barren and unfertile land. The metropolis can use it after acquiring land at minimal cost,” said Paudel. The gorge has turned into stinking hill. It has been put in the category Valley 1, 2, and 3. The KMC built a motorable road on the garbage hills. However, during the monsoons, floods wash it away.

Over 1,000 metric tonnes of solid waste collected daily from 18 municipalities in the Kathmandu Valley is dumped at Sisdole. Each year during the monsoon season, the road leading to Sisdole in Okharpauwa, Nuwakot district becomes soft and muddy. Lorries carrying the heavy garbage sink into the slushy ground and are stalled. In July, KMC stopped collecting garbage for nearly a month. The accumulated piles of garbage on the streets spread an obnoxious smell all over.

When the Post contacted, KMC Joint Spokesperson Nawaraj Dhakal, he said, we welcome decision of local residents. “They have not approached us their plan. We have been looking for an alternative site for Sisdole before we shift to the Banchare Dada. We will send a letter to the central government very soon regarding this issue,” he said.

Last year in November, the metropolis had announced to dispose organic waste in Shyame Kholso, located in 1.1km west of Sisdole, as an alternative until the permanent site in Banchare Dada in Nuwakot is complete. However, nothing happened.

When the Post asked Environment Division Chief Hari Bahadur Kunwar why the metropolis failed to relocate the dumping site temporarily to Shyame Kholso, he cited lack of coordination with the central government. “Local residents’ initiative is a welcome move. We will consider it, but KMC alone can do nothing to solve the garbage collected in the Valley,” he said.