The spokesperson said that the board has established 16 temporary offal collection points in the district East, 13 in the district South, four in district Malir and 18 in district West. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: While the festive occasion of Eidul Azha is celebrated with great fervour, the post-slaughter animal waste always causes a problem for the citizens of Karachi. Every year, piles of unsightly offal are left on the streets to rot which not only creates an extremely unpleasant odour but it also spread diseases.
To top it off, the second spell of monsoon rains is bound to worsen the situation if cleanliness measures are not taken in a timely manner.
To ensure the collection and proper disposal of animal waste from the streets, the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB), together with the local government, has chalked out a plan under which cleaning work will continue in the city throughout the three days of Eid.
According to an estimate, there are 1.5 million sacrificial animals in Karachi this year. To bury the offal of sacrificial animals, trenches have been dug at seven locations across the city, including Gond Pass, Jam Chakro, Sharafi Goth, Shah Faisal Colony, Korangi Crossing and North Nazimabad.
“In addition to the main trenches, we have also set up several temporary offal collection points in the city,” an SSWMB spokesperson told The Express Tribune.
The spokesperson said that the board has established 16 temporary offal collection points in the district East, 13 in the district South, four in district Malir and 18 in district West.
“The special cleaning squad will move from street to street in pickup trucks to collect animal waste and then dump it at the temporary collection points,” she said. “There will be large loading dumpers present at the temporary collection points which will carry the waste to bury it in the trenches.”
Preparations have also been completed to collect and dispose of offal from four districts of the city which include district West, district East, district South and district Malir. On the other hand, the administration of the district municipal corporations (DMC) Central and Korangi will distribute the area’s cleaning responsibilities during Eid holidays.
“Korangi DMC has dug up trenches at Shah Faisal Colony and Korangi crossing to bury offal, while 16 collection points have been established at the union committee level,” the chairman DMC-Korangi Nayyar Raza shared. “That apart, 800 pickup trucks, 60 loading dumpers and 15 loaders have been hired on rent to collect and dispose of the offal. We have also requested the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) to provide us with pesticide sprays.”
The additional director of sanitation at DMC-Central Nadeem Haider said that the municipality has set up 12 collection points, hired 1,600 pickup trucks, 4,000 private labourers, 47 loaders and 95 loading dumpers to ensure a successful cleaning drive in district central.
“Apart from picking up the offal, our sanitary workers will continue to sweep the streets and pick up garbage per their daily routine,” Haider said.
Pesticide spray
The SSWMB spokesperson said that lime water will be sprayed at different locations across the city to get rid of the post-slaughtering stench, but added that carrying out a pesticide spray campaign in the city is not the responsibility of the board as the function lies with the KMC. Sources in the KMC, however, revealed that although the responsibility of carrying out a pesticide spray campaign in the city rests with the KMC, the chemicals are provided by the Sindh government’s department of health.
“For the past two years, the Sindh government has not provided pesticides sprays to the KMC due to which the large-scale spraying campaign earlier planned is facing undue delays, KMC’s director fumigation Kashif Mirza said.
“This year, the KMC has made some arrangements to carry out an insecticide spray campaign at specific locations but owing to the acute shortage of funds, it is not possible to cover the entire city,” Mirza said. He added that the KMC had sent numerous requisition letters to the Sindh government, warning that the spread of viral diseases is very high from August to December, but it fell on deaf ears.
“On the occasion of Eidul Azha, the mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar has released Rs500,000 for fumigation, along with 300 litres of permethrin and deltamethrin, which are two very powerful insecticides,” Mirza detailed. However, the quantity is not enough to cover the entire city.
Dissatisfied citizens
Despite the tall claims made by the SSWMB and other municipal corporations regarding the cleanliness drive this Eid, the citizens of Karachi are worried that the promises will not be fulfilled like previous years. Karachi residents have complained that last year, the authorities did not collect the offal on time. As a result, waste material was left on the streets to rot throughout the three days of Eid.
They said that last year, the pesticide spray campaign was not seen anywhere due to which viral diseases spread all over the city along with an unbearable odour. They added that the authorities have made tall claims once again but whether they will fulfil their promises or not remains to be seen.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 11th, 2019.
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