There are only 16 environment inspectors in the country and five of them are currently on study leave.
The country is acutely understaffed in terms of keeping in check the environmental pollution and in ensuring strict compliance of environmental laws as only a few environment inspectors have been assigned for the countrywide job, government officials say.
The Department of Environment currently has just 16 environment inspectors, whose jobs involve minimising pollution and enforcing compliance with the laws made for the protection of the environment. To make things worse, five of the inspectors are currently abroad on study leave.
The limited number of inspectors has severely affected the work of the environment department.
“It is difficult to carry out works with a limited number of environment inspectors,” Govinda Lamichhane, one of the environment inspectors, told the Post.
The existing Environmental Protection Act, 2019 has a provision of appointing environment inspectors, whose responsibility is to inspect, examine and recommend measures to mitigate the impact of environmental pollution…