Kathmandu: The weeklong ‘Clean Kathmandu: Our Kathmandu Campaign 2068 ’ ended today with Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai in sanitary gear cleaning up the Bagmati River near the Tilganga Eye Hospital for about half an hour in the morning. Prime Minister Bhattarai had launched the Kathmandu clean-up initiative, part of the National Volunteer Service Campaign, by sweeping the road in front of the CA building in Baneshwor on April 6 together with ministers, bureaucrats and high-level police officials.

Under the initiative, officials of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City and three other municipalities in the valley, in coordination with security personnel, penalised dozens of people for disposing of garbage in public places. During the campaign, KMC managed to collect waste on time, providing respite to the public from a stinking environment. With the weeklong initiative over, people like Basanta Maharjan of New Baneshwor feel that the clean-up campaign should continue.
Worried over pollution resulting from the ongoing road-widening initiative in the Kathmandu valley, Maharjan said the government should clean up the widened roads and black-top the expanded portions right after expansion. Addressing volunteers, PM Bhattarai also said the initiative should continue. “Driven by the spirit of volunteerism, we should keep our cities, towns and villages clean,” he added. PM’s wife Hisila Yami, his daughter Manushi Bhattarai, chief secretary, secretary at the PM’s Office and KMC executive officials got involved in today’s clean-up programmes, which covered all wards of the metropolis.

Source: The Himalayan Times, April 13, 2012