Rukum West, Dec. 27: The stench and pollution from the dumping site at Satipole, Musikot Municipality-2, has made life very difficult for people living in the nearby areas.

Residents of Purundanda, Simkhola, Baripole, Sisnekhola and other surrounding communities have to hold their nose even when inside their houses. Local Tilak Khadka said that he and his neighbours were neither able to eat nor sleep. 

Satipole gets garbage from Khalanga, Serigaun, Bagbazaar and Patukhola. Every few days, this waste is burnt. This releases toxic smoke that, Khadka worried, would harm people’s health.

Another local Bishnu Khadka expressed anger at the local government and said that its inaction and ignorance had caused the present situation. “This indifference by the Musikot Municipality is damaging both our health and the environment,” he protested.

Land acquired for parking, turned into dumping site

People told The Rising Nepal that the municipality tricked them into giving their land for the dumping site. Dil Bahadur Sarki, one of the persons who gave their land, informed that the local representatives promised to use the land to build a jeep park. “But they constructed a landfill instead.”

“They used our land to poison us,” he expressed with sadness.

Meanwhile, Musikot Municipality claimed that Satipole was only a temporary landfill site and that more sustainable plans were being devised to manage solid waste. Mayor Mahendra KC also said that unidentified people, and not the municipality, were setting fire to the garbage. “We do not burn the accumulated rubbish, we bury it,” he clarified. Permanent landfill under construction

Mayor KC informed that a permanent dumping site was being constructed at Nepane, Musikot-1, at a cost of Rs. 10 million.

He said that the municipality would begin throwing waste there from this fiscal year. However, Nepane locals are protesting the landfill and have asked the local government to not endanger their well-being by turning their neighbourhood into the city’s dumping site.