Sand Collection: Banned For Some, Not For All?

Environmentally it is not good to take out sand from the rivers in the Kathmandu Valley. Realising this fact, the government once prohibited the local traders from taking out sand from the river beds. However, the practice of collecting sand from the Bagmati and other rivers still continues. Everyday I see six or seven people carrying sacks of sand on the cycles from the Bagmati river at Shantinagar from early in the morning to evening. They sell the sand to the people of the locality where the police hardly reach. Yes, for the unemployed youths sand has been a good source of their livelihood collecting but it will one day cause a catastrophe to the construction work, such as bridges. And the local people, will not be able to escape too. I do not think that the government has prohibited only the trucks from collecting sand and not the cycles.

Ranjan Thapaliya
Min Bhawan,Kathmandu