The talks were held at the initiation of Minister for Local Development Purna Kumar Sherma after Prime Minister Madhav Nepal at the cabinet meeting on Monday expressed concerns over the garbage problem in Kathmandu. [break]
The ministry has agreed to implement past agreements and also give priority to those affected by the landfill sites in Dhading and Nuwakot when filling job vacancies created in waste management at Kathmandu Metropolis and Lalitpur Sub-metropolis.
"We reached agreement with the locals regarding development activities and jobs," Sumitra Amatya, executive director of Solid Waste Management and Resource Management Center at the ministry, said.
"We will include developmental programs for Sisdol (in Okharpauwa VDC) in our annual program. Although we cannot give jobs to them immediately, we will give them top priority whenever we have job vacancies," Amatya said.
"While recruiting, we will look for skilled and capable manpower," Amatya said. Currently, 87 locals of Aletar, Sisdol have regular jobs at local level offices.
The action committee headed by Chandra Bahadur Shrestha had submitted a 13-point demand on August 22.The demands include employment of youths in the operation of the Chinese-donated garbage disposal trucks, construction of an 80-bed hospital, three kilometers of blacktopped road in every ward of Okharpauwa VDC, etc.
"Although a hospital cannot be constructed at the moment, we will start the process for constructing a better building for health posts," Amatya said to myrepublica.com.
Rabin Man Shrestha, the chief of Environment Management Department at KMC, said they would also provide ambulance services for Sisdole locals.
"Since the government has decided to address our demands, we have called off the strike," Jit Bahadur Balami, a member of the struggle committee said.
Garbage from the capital remained undisposed since Sunday last week after obstruction by Okharpauwa locals. Over the past week more than 5,000 tons of waste has accumulated in the streets of the capital. The Valley produces around 750 tons of waste every day.
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