I-12 residents decry hazardous dumping site

EPA has also filed a case against CDA

ISLAMABAD: The only dumping site of the federal capital is jeopardising the once cherished, pleasant ambiance with the scenic green environment in in the surroundings of Sector I-12 which has now turned musty and hazardous.

Ishtiaq Meher a resident of Sectors I-10 said the Sanitation Department of Capital Development Authority (CDA) has been disposing the city's waste at the dumping site set up in Sector I-12 (a residential area under development) whereas the stink arising from the dumping site has made the atmosphere in the vicinity hazardous for one’s health and unpleasant to breathe in.



He said, "It is gruesome to see that the waste pickers are found burning garbage at times in the dump which further aggravates the air quality and environment not only of the surrounding areas rather of the entire city." He further said that some miscreants have also been found burning the dried grass in green patches of the sector, which is covering most of the area due to the approaching winter season. He said the CDA's waste management teams are dumping garbage in open areas which at times causes plastic bags and portable waste to float with the fast blowing wind; however waste pickers are also found scrolling heaps of waste to pick rough papers and recycle items. "It also causes the gathered piles of trash to split and exacerbates pollution in the environment," he added.

Nimra Ahmed a teacher said, "We need to educate ourselves as people themselves do not bother to notice when somebody around us is putting garbage, plastic and other inflammable material at fire for heating during cold weather. They should be stopped and educated about the serious hazards that can be caused by their burning of harmful substances which will not affect just them but also the entire environment."



Commenting on the situation, CDA Director Sanitation Sardar Khan Zimri said that Sector I-12 dumping site was a temporary spot for garbage disposal where the waste management teams put the garbage in trenches and then cover it with earth. "We have controlled the burning and poor disposal issues of garbage reported by the citizens, however, since the site is a temporary one where trenches are not that deep, the earth submerging the garbage gets removed during rains and strong gusts of wind the make the garbage float into the atmosphere or scatter in the vicinity," he informed. "CDA Planning Directorate, Land Department and Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) recently visited a place next to Sanajani near Taxila to establish a permanent waste dumping site," he said.

He informed that the new dumping site project was in the offing as land acquisition was a little difficult due to territorial engagements of the proposed land with Rawalpindi, Taxila and trans-provincial boundaries. To a question, he said Environment Protection Agency (EPA) had also filed a case against CDA over the matter of waste dumping in Sector I-12 in the Environment Tribunal and its ruling directed the Authority to shift the dumping waste out of the residential sector in a more suitable area.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2018.