KATHMANDU: A team from the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Police, on Sunday, reached the CPN-UML office after the party failed to pay a fine imposed by the KMC for littering on Durbarmarg, Kathmandu Metropolitan City-1.
The police, arriving with a van, attempted to deliver a fine of Rs 100,000 to the UML office in Chyasal on Sunday afternoon.
However, representatives at the UML central office refused to accept the letter.
The fine had been imposed on Friday evening after the UML held an awareness rally on the open road in Durbarmarg, which resulted in littering on the streets and sidewalks.
As per the Waste Management Act of 2068 BS and the Kathmandu Metropolitan City Finance Act of 2081 BS, the metropolitan police returned to the UML office with a second letter after the fine remained unpaid, indicating the party’s failure to fulfill its waste management responsibilities.
The rally, which had initially been scheduled to take place at Bhrikuti Mandap, was moved to Durbarmarg at the last minute.
Following the event, UML General Secretary Shankar Pokharel accused Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah of deliberately publicizing the fine after the rally had ended, when workers and volunteers were already cleaning up the area.
Pokharel claimed that Mayor Shah had targeted the UML by imposing the fine while the garbage was being collected.
For months, there has been a simmering conflict between Prime Minister and UML Chairman KP Oli and Mayor Balendra Shah.
Tensions escalated when the Kathmandu Metropolitan City moved to implement a Supreme Court order to clear an additional 20 meters along the riverbank, a move that Oli criticized as childish.
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