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Santoshi
Thapa
Local, Immadole |
Santoshi Thapa, is a teacher at Suryodaya Bal Bikas Primary School
in Imadol in the outskirts of Lalitpur. She had arrived
here 20 years ago as a bride. Before that she used to
live with her parents in Janagal.
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Janagal still is quaint village
in Ugratara Village Development Committee (VDC)
of Banepa, a neighboring town known for its traditional
business. Yet, the young bride has found a new
home in Lalitpur.
“When I came here as a
bride, I found it very strange. It was not like
Janagal at all. People and their lifestyle differed
greatly,” Santoshi Thapa says. She says this
when asked to compare Janagal in Banepa and Gwarkho
in the outskirt of Lalitpur. “So much so
that even the climate differed,” Santoshi
Thapa insists.
However a few years later she grew more conscious
about her immediate environment. As time wore
on, she grew conscious of new structures, which
were both nuisance and welcome landmarks.
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“These things (once smoke-billowing brick kiln chimneys)
were certainly new to me. I had not seen them in Janagal
or Banepa” Santoshi Thapa says. She made it clear
that brick kilns were then restricted to Bhaktapur. She
said that people bought quality bricks from brick kilns
there since bricks made in Janagal were of poor quality
indeed.
Time came when Santoshi Thapa saw
a fast growth in the number of traditional brick kilns.
She also knew that they were the cause of air pollution.
“We have people here panting for fresh air once,”
Santoshi Thapa says. She says this to remind about the
worst phase in the evolution of brick kilns in Lalitpur.
Then she saw a phase when local environmental
clubs campaigned against brick kilns. That was around
1994. The press, too, gave voice to the people in the
area who were suffering from air pollution.
“I am the only person here who has seen how bricks
are made in villages as well as in towns. I have seen
crude ways and also the latest technique used at Satyanarayan
Brick Kiln (SBK),” Santoshi Thapa says with pride,
referring to Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln (VSBK) technology
used by SBK.
Santoshi Thapa talks excitedly about
both the negative and positive changes in her neighborhood.
She has been here too long and thus knows the problem
related to brick kilns: water level and air pollution.
“Let me say the time since 2002 has been pleasant,”
Santoshi Thapa says with satisfaction. The reason: SBK
had set the trend by graduating to modern technology.
She insists that the protests against
brick kilns in the past were justified. “The pollution
was affecting even standing vegetable. The atmosphere
was full of dust and smoke. Even the laundry put out
to dry turned dirty then,” Santoshi Thapa further
says.
Things changed since VSBK came in. Air quality and water
level are coming back to a normal level,” Santoshi
Thapa says. The innovation has also minimized the number
of locals who complained of asthmatic complication.
“Protesting has paid off” she concludes.
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