Makeshift garbage dump ruins park atmosphere
At first you build these oxygen factories then you destroy them by burning garbage right next to them
Clifton's Beach Park. PHOTO: flickr/PakistanOfficial
KARACHI:
Instead of being able to relax and enjoy the breeze at Clifton's Beach Park, citizens are now forced to suffer foul smelling gusts of winds. Once a beautiful park where visitors enjoyed the sea breeze, the place is now a haven for drug addicts and stray animals. Adjacent to the park is a huge plot of land used as a dumping ground for solid waste by various administrative agencies.
I have been here for five months and have never seen a family come in, said the park's ticket seller. He added that he has seen vehicles coming in to dump garbage in the plot. The smell of the garbage drives people away from the park. A drug addict at the park, Rasheed, said the park is a haven for people like him, as no one bothers them.
District Municipal Corporation (DMC) South Administrator Muhammad Naeem is aware that the DMC vehicles dump their garbage here to save fuel but justified this by saying that the cantonment board does the same.
We have decided to build a wall around the plot to bar vehicles from entering, he said. The Cantonment Board Clifton spokesperson, however, denied that their vehicles dump garbage at the park.
Nadeem Ahmed, parks deputy director, said all they could do is to request the relevant authorities to spare the parks where citizens go to relax. Ecologist Rafiul Haq said the artificial heat generated by burning garbage is extremely dangerous for trees and plants and if this continues soon the trees will vanish from the park. "At first you build these oxygen factories then you destroy them by burning garbage right next to them," he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 3rd, 2016.
Instead of being able to relax and enjoy the breeze at Clifton's Beach Park, citizens are now forced to suffer foul smelling gusts of winds. Once a beautiful park where visitors enjoyed the sea breeze, the place is now a haven for drug addicts and stray animals. Adjacent to the park is a huge plot of land used as a dumping ground for solid waste by various administrative agencies.
I have been here for five months and have never seen a family come in, said the park's ticket seller. He added that he has seen vehicles coming in to dump garbage in the plot. The smell of the garbage drives people away from the park. A drug addict at the park, Rasheed, said the park is a haven for people like him, as no one bothers them.
District Municipal Corporation (DMC) South Administrator Muhammad Naeem is aware that the DMC vehicles dump their garbage here to save fuel but justified this by saying that the cantonment board does the same.
We have decided to build a wall around the plot to bar vehicles from entering, he said. The Cantonment Board Clifton spokesperson, however, denied that their vehicles dump garbage at the park.
Nadeem Ahmed, parks deputy director, said all they could do is to request the relevant authorities to spare the parks where citizens go to relax. Ecologist Rafiul Haq said the artificial heat generated by burning garbage is extremely dangerous for trees and plants and if this continues soon the trees will vanish from the park. "At first you build these oxygen factories then you destroy them by burning garbage right next to them," he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 3rd, 2016.