Forests in Rupandehi turning into solid waste dumping site (Feature)

Deepak Ghimire / Rupandehi: A majority of the forests in Rupandehi district are increasingly becoming polluted and posing threat to the aesthetic value of landscape as these areas are serving as a replacement for dumping sites for solid waste.

Forests cover around 21.56 per cent of the district where there are around 70 community forests, according to a government statistics.

Wanton disposal of solid waste in the forest areas by the municipalities here in lack of proper dumping site is also increasing the air pollution.

Solid waste management has appeared as a pesky issue to many municipalities here which are solely responsible for the collection, treatment and final disposal of solid waste.

The rapid urbanization and lack of proper planning for dumping sites for the newly announced municipalities as well as the old ones in the district have caused the emergence of forests, especially the areas adjoining the forest along the East-West highway here, as the dumping sites for solid waste.

The old municipalities as Butwal Municipality and Siddharthanagar Municipality still lack permanent dumping site. The new municipalities have no plans yet for determining the site for the same which eventually takes toll on the environment and public health.

As a result, the forests are bearing the brunt of human’s inability to manage their solid waste.]

Public forest apart, the community forests here as Shankarnagar, Karahiya, Sukhaura Hariyali among others in Tilottama Municipality are also not spared when it comes to dumping rubbish, according to locals.

Household waste generated are stuffed in a sack and trashed in the community forests. Used plastic sacks and bags have begun forming heaps in many roadsides here.

Laxmi Thapa, Chairperson of Karahiya Community Forest Users Group confided that although the members of community forest user groups have tried to prevent the unwanted dumping of the solid waste by fencing the forest, people don’t cease to litter the community forest with their solid waste. “We are going to devise a plan to put an end to wanton dumping on community forests,” said Thapa.

Environmentalist Yubaraj Kandel analyses that the forests areas are likely to be adversely affected in lack of a proper system to collect and manage solid waste of urban areas. The forests here are likely losing their natural charm owing to several kinds of pollutions emanating from wanton dumping of solid waste.

Kandel, who is a resident of Tilottama-11 in the district, shared, “The roadside areas along the East-West Highway, starting from Sukhaura Khola in the east of Butwal in the district, nowadays bear a resemblance to dumping site due to the heaps of waste.”

The rubbish-cluttered roads and open space, public lands and riverside laden with solid wastes are a common sight in various places in the district, according to him.

People trailing through the dumping site in the forests areas may have to risk injuries due to the dumped broken pieces of glass, blade and various metallic items.

Adds Sharmila Thapa, a local of Tilottama-15, “I do not feel like taking a way through forests here due to the heaps of garbage trashed all over. I fear that I will get sick due to the odour and dread injury by broken pieces of glass.”

Even the animals going to graze in forests here are at risk of minor injuries and infection, according to Thapa.

The stakeholders, in an attempt to find a homemade solution to this homegrown problem, have decided to impose a fine ranging from Rs 5,000 – 100,000 on those throwing waste in the forest wantonly.

The local authorities, including the District Administration Office and District Police Office, have put up hoarding boards in various places to appeal to the locals not to dump solid waste in forests.

Also, he who tips off the concerned authority about such untoward dumping of solid waste are rewarded. Despite all these measures taken to prevent it, people are still dumping solid waste in the forest without any qualm.

“Then where should we trash our garbage?”questions a local from Tilottama Municipality requesting for anonymity. “If we were given a proper location for dumping our waste, our forests would not turn into dumping sites.”

He suggested that an open area in the forests could be dug to dump decomposable waste until a permanent solution to this issue is sought.

Towards this, Butwal Sub-metropolitan City is gearing up to set up a solid waste processing centre in Shivanagar Community Forest at ward no-6 in the Sub-Metropolitan. Hyped a lot for long, this project is yet to materialize.

Mukti Prasad Pandey, Section Officer at Tilottama Municipality admits that solid waste management has been a major challenge in various areas in the districts with rapid urbanization. Tilottama Municipality, which was announced a municipality last year, is suffering most from this issue.

On the top, the District Forest Office in Rupandehi is adamant to providing the Municipality a dumping site, a rudimentary infrastructure for solid waste management, within the forests here.

“The Municipality has already purchased vehicles to collect garbage but there is no proper site to dump it,” said Pandey, offering an insight into how and why the forests here are being used as a dumping site for solid waste. RSS