Govt introduces Work Procedure on Cleaning River and Other Public Areas

SHARAD SHARMA 
KATHMANDU, Feb 11: The government has introduced the ‘Work Procedure Related to Cleaning River and Other Public Areas, (Model) 2075’ allotting the responsibility of cleaning the rivers and other public places to the local level itself.

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration has brought this Work Procedure to give the responsibility of cleaning the rivers, roads and public areas to the local level itself, said Joint Secretary at the Ministry, Purushottam Nepal.

All the 753 local levels will be required to carry out the cleaning campaigns within their respective areas with the introduction of the Work Procedure.

He said the Work Procedure stipulated that the local governments should maintain the cleanliness of the rivers, drains and religious, cultural and historical monuments as well as protect the biodiversity by maintaining environmental balance within their area.

As per the Work Procedure, the local governments will conduct cleaning up programs within their borders by constituting a committee headed by the Chief of the local level.

The committee comprises the deputy mayor of the municipality or the deputy chief of the rural municipality, the chief administrative officer, chief of the security bodies, representatives of the non-governmental organizations, among others as members.

This committee will identify the areas for conducting cleaning up works, run the cleaning campaign by maintaining inter-agency coordination and coordinate the cleaning up programs to be carried out by various organizations and bodies.

Likewise, the Work Procedure stipulates the formation of a Ward-level Cleaning Campaign Committee under the convenorship of the Ward Chairperson. This committee shall conduct cleaning of rivers, temples and shrines and public areas within the perimeter of the ward, shall coordinate the cleaning programs to be conducted by various organizations and bodies, shall hold discussions at the ward-level regarding the cleaning programs by monitoring them.

Ministry spokesperson Suresh Adhikari said the Work Procedure would be send to all the local levels immediately.

He said the local municipal and the rural municipal executive bodies will endorse and implement the Work Procedure.

It is stated in the document that the local level should carry out cleaning up works of the rivers, drain, temples and shrines and public places within the local area at least once a month.

The Work Procedure states that the municipality shall make arrangements for cleaning the water source, public well or tap, lake, pond, rivers, rivulet, religious and tourism sites, heritages, road, parks and open spaces within their borders in the morning of the last Saturday of each month by maintaining coordination with the locals, communities and non-governmental organizations.

Spokesperson Adhikari said the government offices and offices of the non-government organizations and the private sector, and the various organizations and bodies located within the borders of the municipality or rural municipality shall have to conduct cleaning program from 2pm to 3 pm on the first Friday of each month.

Similarly, all the educational institutions within the village and town areas shall conduct cleaning program either between 2 pm to 3 pm, or one hour before they close for the day or any other appropriate time on the first or fourth Friday of every month. As part of their cleaning program, the educational institutions will clean the river, rivulet, park, pond, religious site, settlement and public place located in their neighborhood as per their convenience. The educational institutions are also required to conduct various extra-curricular activities like quiz contest, art shows, public speaking and other activities on the theme of environment conservation.
Likewise, it is stated in the Work Procedure that all the offices and organizations at the local level will have to prohibit pasting of posters or graffiti and carry out regular cleaning around their offices by declaring these areas ‘Clean, Tidy and Green Area’.

It is also stated that the use of plastic bags, glass or other materials not meeting the set standard and causing environmental pollution shall be curbed and organic or environmentally sound options shall be promoted. Also, the burning of plastic or plastic-made materials has been totally prohibited. RSS