Pvt water suppliers resume business
KATHMANDU, JUL 01 -
Water supply in Kathmandu Valley resumed from Sunday evening as the private drinking water suppliers who had halted supply since Thursday reached an agreement with the government.
During talks with the agitating water suppliers on Sunday, the government agreed to come up with a concrete policy on the business related to water supplies. Urban Development Minister Chhabi Raj Panta led the government team having representatives from the Home Ministry, the Industry Ministry, the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies and the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control.
“We have resumed water supplies as the government has agreed to devise a policy for the sector within a month,” said Dharmananda Shrestha, president of Nepal Bottled Water Industries’ Association. “The government has assured us that the policy will be prepared in coordination with the private sector.”
A group of five associations, involved in supplying drinking water in the Valley, were on the warpath since June 9.
They submitted a 20-point charter of demands to the government seeking reopening of the closed borewells and the resumption of drinking water supply industries, renewal of their licences, formation of a monitoring team, systematic management of the existing industry and implementation of a single-tax rate mechanism.
It is estimated that private firms supply around 90 million litres of water in the Kathmandu valley every day through tankers and 120,000 units of 20 litre jars.
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