A case of neglect: Sihala residents complain of poor sewerage system

Water in Soan is unsafe for human use

ISLAMABAD: Almost nine months after union council (UC) elections in the federal capital, residents of Sihala village in UC-14 are still waiting for some major issues to be resolved.

Lack of a proper sewerage system and gas lines are just two of the many issues requiring urgent attention, locals said.

Local resident Fazal Kareem said that several poultry farms upstream of the Soan River are dumping manure into the river.

“They are not just polluting the river, but on hotter days when there is no wind, the atmosphere becomes pungent,” he said. “By evening, my skin feels itchy due to the polluted air and the smell is unbearable,” he added.

“It is also taking a toll on the health of our children,” Naseem Haider, another resident added.

Kareem said he had not seen any development work after the elections. “It appears that the main focus of any development project is only limited to the UC chairman’s village nearby. But there are more than 10 villages in the UC,” he said.

A resident of another village, however, expressed some satisfaction in context of the UC elections outcome.

“We saw some people doing a survey for gas pipeline a few days back. I hope we get a connection soon...but I do not see any development plans to tackle unchecked waste and sewerage disposal,” Zulfiqar Haider said.

He said waste from poultry farms was not the only factor in the condition of the Soan River. “With increasing population in the area, more domestic waste easily finds its way into the river,” Haider said.

Raja Pervaiz said that due to unregulated and illegal disposal, the water in the river is unusable.

“It is definitely not the same as it used to be some 20-30 years back,” he said.

According to Hameedullah, the locals have tried to convince the poultry farm owners to avoid dumping waste in the water, but their efforts have been fruitless.

Chaudhary Nadeem Akhtar, the chairman of UC-14 Sihala, told The Express Tribune that he was among the locals that were fighting a court case against illegal dumping of manure.

“The [poultry owners] just keep dumping waste by the river.  It is a perfect breeding ground for flies and mosquitoes. It is a blatant violation of law which we have been fighting against in the high court, but the case is still under way,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2016.