Waste disposal: Korang River a bane for residents

ISLAMABAD:

The dumping of garbage in the Korang River along the Islamabad Expressway is fast becoming a health hazard; causes nauseating fumes and irritating motorists and local residents.

Commuters say the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and private housing societies on both sides of the expressway are responsible for the unhygienic situation; continuously throwing garbage into the river, and having no adequate waste disposal facilities.

Residents claim sanitary workers and garbage collectors from different localities dump filth into the Korang River; blocking the water flow and causing flash-floods during heavy rains.

Locals say no existing or upcoming housing society has plans for a separate landfill site to dispose of solid waste.

A CDA official said the location for garbage dumping in the capital is on IJP Road. He accused garbage collectors from Rawalpindi of dumping in the river at midnight, instead of at their assigned dumping site of Rawat. He added they have complained  to the Rawalpindi Development Authority in this regard. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2015.