Environmental degradation: A natural beauty becomes a rubbish bin

Attabad Lake littered by garbage continues to suffer from lack of facilities.

GILGIT:

The beauty of Attabad Lake is being marred by garbage, human waste and dust.

“The situation is getting worse day by day as there are no facilities like washrooms for the passengers at the spillway,” Karim Tahir, a local told The Express Tribune, on his return from Gojal.

He added that heavy shipments imported from China via rafts are loaded and unloaded near the spillway -- food waste and other scrapes fall into the lake that was formed after a massive landslide blocked the river in 2010.

“There is no place designated for garbage collection,” he said, adding that dust was another serious issue causing health problems for passengers that wait near the spillway for a boat to travel. About two kilometres of the road leading to the spillway from Hunza is un-metalled (dirt-road); loaded vehicles traversing is generating a lot of dust.

Karim Tahir, a resident of Hunza himself, said that around 200-400 passengers have to wait for boats to take them to Gojal, a valley where more than 25,000 people have been stranded due to the landslide as a vast portion of the Karakoram was submerged under the lake.

“Lack of toilets for these passengers is a very big problem,” he said. Furthermore a camp set up by the Frontier Works Organisation for widening of the spillway is also devoid of the facility.

Karim said that people, unaware of environmental degradation, tend to throw garbage and food waste into the lake.

Environmentalists however believe that the government should take steps to preserve the beauty and environment of not only the lake but its surrounding areas as well.

“There should have been an environment impact assessment exercise to get a clear picture of situation,” said Ghulam Mustafa, an environmentalist. He said the government should have made makeshift arrangements like toilets for the passengers and visitors near the spillway who spend a substantial amount of time waiting for boats.

Mustafa also suggested that the government should authorise boat owners to take pro-environment measures.”It should be the responsibility of the corporate sector to set up garbage bins [and toilets] at the site, as it is they who take maximum profit through their business,” he said.

The environmentalist added the government should put up signboards to educate people to keep their surroundings hygienic and health. Water should be regularly sprinkled on the un-metalled road to control the dust, he added.

A government official said they were more concerned about draining the lake. “But this can be discussed at a high level meeting now, “the official said on condition of anonymity.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2011.