The responsibility of garbage collection belongs to the local level: Minister Sharma

KATHMANDU : The government on Tuesday said that it has taken seriously the statement made public by Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Mayor Balen Shah to not collect garbage of Baluwatar, Singha Durbar and Sheetal Niwas.

A cabinet meeting held on Tuesday at Singh Durbar decided to take seriously the statement made by KMC Mayor Shah and take necessary initiatives to resolve the problem.

“The KMC has a legal arrangement to collect garbage at the local level, it should be done according to the policy,” said Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma while talking to journalists after the cabinet meeting.

“Contrary to the policy arrangement of collecting the garbage of the valley by the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, the head of the metropolis announced not to pick up the garbage of Baluwatar, Singh Darbar and Sheetal Niwas. It has been seriously discussed in the meeting,” said Sharma, who is also the government’s spokesperson.

KMC Mayor Shah earlier made a public statement that the metropolis would not pick up the garbage of these key places. He had complained that the federal government had failed to extend necessary cooperation to the metropolis to properly manage the garbage generated in Kathmandu Valley.

The cabinet meeting also decided to approve the proposal received from the Infrastructure Committee of the Council of Ministers to determine the maximum limit of pesticide residues in all imported and produced food items.

Minister Sharma also said that the meeting decided to appoint Gobind Acharya, the former president of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, as the press advisor to the Prime Minister.