Kathmandu, 18 Sep: After any political party or individual held a public program inside Kathmandu Metropolitan City and left behind trash, the metropolis used to issue letters of warning. Citing damage to public property, it would also impose fines. Such letters from the metropolis have reached everyone from the CPN-UML to former King Gyanendra Shah. Last March, the metropolis fined former King Gyanendra 793,000 rupees under various headings.
Royalists who held demonstrations in Tinkune were fined by the metropolis on grounds such as environmental pollution. Similarly, last December, the ruling CPN-UML was also fined. When its program in Durbar Marg created trash, the metropolis ordered UML to pay a fine of 100,000 rupees. The metropolis has not only fined those who litter or spill mud on the road, but even those who distribute leaflets on the street. During the teachers’ protests too, Mayor Balen Shah (Balen) criticized the damage caused to the city’s plants.
During the Gen Z movement, however, Kathmandu Metropolitan City itself suffered losses amounting to hundreds of millions. Ward offices 6, 7, and 32 were vandalized, while the Ward 15 office was looted, according to the metropolis’ preliminary report.
In Ward 31, the office of the Metropolitan Police Force in Minbhawan was set on fire and vandalized. Three vehicles used by city police were torched by protesters. In most wards of the metropolis, tires were burned, plants, traffic islands, CCTV cameras, and other infrastructure were damaged.
But why has Balen remained silent?
During the Gen Z protests, Mayor Balen himself became a mysterious figure. In the past, if any political party or group created trash within the metropolis, he would immediately direct his office to issue letters of action. But this time, he has stayed quiet.
According to sources inside the metropolis, because Balen himself supported the protests, he has not rushed to take punitive measures. “Even city police vehicles were found distributing drinking water during the movement, clearly with Mayor Balen’s approval. And since the organizers themselves haven’t been identified, perhaps that’s why fines haven’t been enforced,” said one municipal staff member. “Who is responsible? Who should be punished? That hasn’t been decided. That’s why the issue of fines has stalled.”
Rajnath Pandey, chief of the Metropolitan Police, stated that the Gen Z protests alone produced 374 truckloads of waste. “That’s just the garbage collected from the streets. We are also helping to dump burned vehicles in one place, but those aren’t even counted yet,” Pandey said during a press conference on Thursday. Although he called for those who vandalized public property, including municipal property, to be held accountable, he did not speak about fines.
Sarita Rai, head of the Environment Department at the metropolis, also expressed unawareness regarding punitive action. “We haven’t been informed of that issue yet. Collecting and transporting waste to the landfill is ongoing as usual. Except for glass-related waste, everything else is going to the landfill site,” she said.
The metropolis has already decided not to send glass debris from destroyed structures to the landfill, requesting people not to mix it with regular waste. According to the Environment Department, glass waste cannot be disposed of at landfill sites.
The metropolis has urged offices and households to separately collect glass debris and store it safely in their own compounds or premises. In some offices, such waste has not yet been cleared.
