The Kathmandu Metropolitan City issued a warning today to the dying industry operating along the Bagmati River for polluting the river by releasing harmful chemicals, including dyeing agents. “We found the dyeing industry along the Bagmati releasing waste materials, including chemicals, directly to the river, thereby polluting the river in particular and the entire environment in general,” said Rabin Man Shrestha, chief of the KMC’s Environment Management Division. “We issued a written warning to the 16 dyeing firms today,” he added. Despite the warning, the civic body has not given any deadline to the units concerned to manage the harmful chemicals, nor has it initiated action against them. “This is the first letter. If we find these firms at fault again, we will definitely take action,” Shrestha claimed. He refused to disclose the names of the dyeing firms that have received the civic body’s warning. For the past 39 weeks, stakeholders, including the Kathmandu Metropolitan City and the public, have been cleaning up the Bagmati every Saturday as part of the Bagmati river cleanup campaign, in association with the High Level Bagmati Civilisation Committee, the Ministries of Urban Development, Environment and Local Development. Regardless of the campaign, disposal of plastic bags, human waste and wastewater in the river continues unchecked.