Rural residents in K-P complain of poor waste disposal arrangements

District governments in many areas fail to address sanitary concerns

PESHAWAR/ LOWER DIR: As Eidul Azha came to an end, residents from many rural areas of the province complained of poor waste disposal by their respective local governments.

The residents expressed dismay over improper offal dumping, absence of sanitary works and lack of water supply during the past three days.

In many localities of Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Buner and Peshawar, the remains of sacrificial animals were not properly disposed of while causing discomfort for those living nearby.

Ziaullah, a resident of Lower Dir, said he rarely saw any sanitary worker in his village. “I have even forgotten the last time any sanitary worker from the municipal administration visited our village,” he added.

He said people have thrown sacrificial waste in open spaces which has permeated the air with poor stench. But the district administration is nowhere to be seen.



Similarly, animal waste could be seen lying on roads and streets in the rural parts of Timergara, Lower Dir. Many people even dumped animal remains in the Panjkora River.

“Most of the residents in his village are oblivious of the fact that provision of municipal services is the prime duty of local governments,” said Muhammad Iqbal, a resident of Timergara.

“The waste generated by the sacrificial practice was not collected from many parts of his village and the district administration seemed to be least bothered about it,” he lamented.

District Council Member Timergara  Alamzaib Khan said that the incumbent local government has failed to deliver basic municipal services to the locals.

He said that while provision of sanitary services was the prime responsibility of the local government, it even failed to provide clean drinking water to the locals. “The locals in Timergara have been facing acute water shortage for the past many years, but the current government failed to resolve the issue.” A similar failure was witnessed in rural areas of Peshawar. While major city arteries were instantly cleaned up by the Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP), many of the city’s suburbs were left unattended and animal waste could be seen piling up on public spaces.

The areas of the provincial capital where poor arrangements were made included Phando road, Spena Warai, Hazar Khwani,Tajabad, Canal Road, and villages located near Ring Road. “The WSSP should have collected the waste from every locality, including the rural areas of the city,” he said, adding that locals have been facing many problems owing to improper disposal of animal waste.

Despite the fact that a ban was imposed on dumping animal waste into canals, many residents were seen throwing animal waste into open drains and running streams.

Provision of municipal services is one of the basic aims behind establishment of Local Governments setup in districts and tehsil level across the world. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has conducted Local Government (LG) elections back in 2015 to devolve powers to the gross root level and provide services to the locals.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2017.