GDA starts cleaning drive in Galyat

Plans being made to make area a no plastic zone

ABBOTABAD: Tourism, though lifeline of people in Galyat, brings challenge of garbage management.

The Galiyat Development Authority (GDA) has initiated another cleanliness campaign in the Galiyat area during the winter tourism season.

In this campaign GDA, sanitation staff will clean the area ranging from Bagnoter to Barrian, GDA Director General Raza Ali Habib said during a meeting with the local community, traders and public representatives. Galiyat attracts a large number of tourists from all over Pakistan.

Due to influx of guests the small towns find it very difficult to manage the garbage they leave behind in the environmentally rich region, he said suggesting making Galiyat a no plastic zone.

The local community and traders offering their full support said they will back all efforts for cleanliness, preservation and sustainability of area. Habib said he has directed the sanitation staff to initiate full fledge cleanliness drive to clean the areas along roadsides, ravines, markets and in the towns of Galiyat.

“It should be our prime duty to keep Galiyat neat and clean. We should guide the tourists not to destroy the natural beauty of the region and to follow the rules to properly dispose of trash for the betterment of the area,” he said.

Plastic shopping bags and other non-biodegradable items are damaging the natural environment of Galiyat. GDA is considering making Galiyat no plastic zone. This cleanliness drive will continue for the whole month in which GDA staff will collect and disposed of trash especially from ravines.