City developments: IMC wrests playground from encroachers

Authorities suggest new garbage dump near Sangjani

ISLAMABAD: Sports and Culture Directorate of Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) has successfully retrieved illegally occupied Bhutto Cricket Ground located at Sector G-7. For decades, the cricket ground was illegally occupied by encroachers who were minting money from people by renting out the ground for sports activities.

Senior official of Sports Directorate said that after taking control, the ground has been opened for the general public for sports activities adding that the Directorate will charge a very minor amount for booking the ground. IMC will establish playgrounds in each sector of Islamabad for promotion of sports, he added. He said IMC is working on a comprehensive plan to establish these playgrounds in all sectors, especially in the most populated sectors of the capital city to provide best outdoor activities to the youth.

Dumping site

Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation of (IMC) and Capital Development Authority (CDA) has proposed a new site near Sangjani to dump 700 metric tonnes of daily garbage produced in the capital city. Director Sanitation, Sardar Khan Zimri said that civic body has acquired 100 acres land from the forest department of Punjab to establish a proper landfill site which is a lingering issue for the CDA. He said at the moment, the capital generates around 600 to 700 metric tonnes of solid waste on a daily basis which is dumped at the temporary landfill in Sector I-12.

Director Sanitation informed that there is a proposal to establish a solid waste plant at the site to regenerate the waste into energy. However, locals said that no existing or upcoming housing society has a proper design or plan to construct a separate landfill site or incineration plant to dispose the solid waste produced daily.

Presently much of the waste dumped in the temporary landfill ends up in streams and rivers and becomes a breeding ground for disease-carrying pathogens. It was also termed as the main reason for the outbreak of dengue cases in the rural areas of the capital last autumn.

In the late 1980s, CDA started dumping garbage in Sector H-12 and continued the practice till 2006, only to shift it to Sector H-11. CDA then began dumping garbage in Sector I-14 in 2010. In 2011, another site in Sector I-12 was chosen. Meanwhile the nauseating smell arising from garbage heap at Korang Nullah along the expressway is a constant irritant for motorists using this busy road on a daily basis.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2018.