Factory dumping creates ‘deadly’ swamp

Young boy becomes fifth victim of drowning in Busti Waloot.


Owais Jaffery May 03, 2011

MULTAN: A young boy died after falling into an open sewer created by factory waste in the district.

According to locals, this is the fifth case of this kind reported in the area. “Four other school children have already died in the area after falling into the sewer,” said a schoolteacher Hadia.

Locals told reporters that several factories in the district’s industrial area had began dumping industrial waste in the area and the repeated dumping over a decade had caused a large open swamp in the middle of a residential colony.

“No one has bothered to stop this dumping even though we have complained to the district authorities and to the government,” said a resident of Busti Waloot, Haroon. “I have personally written letters to government departments and to the tehsil municipal administration (TMA) to stop the dumping but nothing has come of it,” he said.

Locals complained that the sewer was also a leading cause for the spread of disease and skin infections in the area. “Lots of children have eye infections and this is the fifth person to have died by slipping into the sewer this year,” said Government Primary School for Boys principal Altaf Hajveri.

On Sunday, Busti Waloot resident Muhammad Ramzan’s six-year-old son Muhammad Ahsan was passing by the nullah on his way to school when he fell in.

Residents only managed to rescue the body after a few hours of the incident.

“The biggest problem is that the nullah is located near a primary school and a town centre and the increased dumping has made the ground damp and dangerous to walk on,” said a resident, Shehryar. “Recently four other people, including children have died because they thought the ground was firm but it caved in,” he said.

Busti Waloot residents have said that they will launch a protest against the tehsil municipal administration (TMA) and the industrialists in the city for not dealing with the problems.

“The people responsible for these deaths are not facing any consequences.

They have been dumping industrial waste here for over a decade without any action and the area has become hard to live in,” said resident Haroon.

“We are the only ones facing the consequences for illegal dumping,” he said.

Locals said that Ahsan was the fifth child to have drowned in the water this year.  “All the victims have been children and they were killed making their way to or back from school,” said Hajveri.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3rd, 2011.

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