After the partial resolution of the City’s waste management issue with the signing of an 18-point agreement last Friday with the locals of Sisdole and Banchare danda for the resumption of garbage dump at the landfill site, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City has moved on to its next pollution control drive.

The metropolis has deployed six out of the nine broomer machines on the city’s streets this week. All nine broomer machines except two had been gathering dust at the storage for the past three months for lack of operators.

Addressing the concerns of the public, the metropolis has recruited new operators to run the broomer machines, according to the environment department of the City. Seven of these machines had been garaged since March 26 for a lack of operators.

“Six machines are now being used on various road sections,” said Sarita Rai, chief of the City’s environment department. “Three others need minor repairs and will be operated from next week.”

She said the broomer machines will be used mainly on the main roads and crossroads in the city where dust pollution is a major issue.

Mayor Balendra Shah, speaking at a function on Wednesday, said the National Innovation Centre, a non-profit organisation run by Ramon Magsaysay award recipient Mahabir Pun, will be handed over the responsibility of repairing and maintaining the broomer machines.

Shah said this will ensure prompt repair of the machines and also curb theft of their parts.

According to KMC officials, the machines will also be deployed to areas based on the complaints registered at its call centre. Shah had inaugurated a call centre last week to address the grievances of the city’s residents. Most of the calls being received at the centre are about garbage and dust pollution, according to officials. The call centre has been receiving over 1,000 phone calls daily, but has yet to develop a mechanism to address public grievances.

Environmentalists and urban planners who have long been criticising the inability of the City’s previous leadership to hire broomer machine operators said they are optimistic with the way the new leadership is working.

“Since the very first day of his election, Mayor Shah has been trying to get to the root of the problems and is doing his best to solve them,” said Bhusan Tuladhar, an environmentalist who closely follows urban issues including pollution. “But we are yet to find long-term solutions to these problems, especially garbage.”

Dust has become synonymous with Kathmandu for the past decade, especially after the government launched a road widening drive in 2011. The frequent digging of the city’s roads to lay the pipes for Melamchi water supply added to the already-burgeoning dust pollution in the Valley.

Kishore Thapa, an urban planner and former government secretary, said the City’s new leadership has shown the potential to solve the Valley’s problems.

“For over two decades, the City could not make progress in handling the pollution issue,” he said. “But we do need a permanent solution to problems such as waste management and dust pollution that have put lives at risk. The City has to start with small steps such as encouraging each household to segregate garbage at the source. People will gradually get used to it.”

With the onset of the monsoon season, Kathmandu’s roads become muddy and waterlogged when it rains. And when the sun shines, the mud turns to dust, which is then kicked up by vehicles. In such situations, using broomer machines would be futile, says Tuladhar.

“The City must come up with a long-term solution soon,” he said.

Rai from the environment department says the broomer machines cannot be used in waterlogged areas or in muddy places and they are looking for an alternative solution to the problem.

The City still deploys 750 sweepers daily to clean the roads at Ratnapark, Lainchaur, Bagdurbar, Old Baneshwar, Putalisadak, Tripureshwar, Bhadrakali and other areas.

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City had bought five Dulevo-6000 machines at the cost of Rs108 million in 2019. That same year, two other machines were bought from the same company. The Chinese government had gifted two more broomer machines also in 2019, but they came into operation only a year later for a lack of operators.