Pindi Cantt areas stink of piled-up garbage
Heaps of garbage and foul smell emitting from overflowing dustbins have become a common sight in different areas of the Rawalpindi Cantonment.
As the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has been facing a shortage of staff and vehicles to lift the garbage and trash from every nook and corner, garbage-lifting has been limited to only posh and front areas. The streets of densely populated areas have been turned into piles of garbage. In several areas, garbage is not picked for several days, and as a result, foul smell emits from overflowing dustbins.
In the RCB, around 250 vacant positions of the janitorial staff were still lying vacant.
Sources said that several vehicles belonging to the sanitation transport fleet have broken down and lying in the cantonment workshop waiting for repair.
The RCB sanitation department has focused its attention on cleanliness on Mall Road, Saddar, Westridge and front yard areas. Garbage is not being lifted from several areas including Tench Bhatta, Dhok Chaudhry, Shale Valley, Dhok Banaras, Millatabad, Chohar Chowk, Misryal, Saham, Naseerabad and other densely populated residential areas adjoining the Range Road.
The sanitation department picks up solid waste from some areas once or twice a week, as a result, the residents of these areas were facing difficulty in taking clear breath.
Read: ‘Dumping site selected for disposal of capital’s waste’
Passing vehicles not only spread the dirt on the roads and streets but also carry the dirt to other roads, causing the spread of stench.
Citizens Kurban Hussain, Mohammad Anwar, Shabbir Ahmed and Malik Qudus said that “the RBC has remained silent on the worst sanitation situation in the densely populated areas. Several applications have been filed to the department but they have fallen on deaf ears.
They said that children who go out come back home with their clothes and shoes contaminated with dirt. They further said that the foul smell enters houses in the evening and at night, forcing them to shit doors and windows to ward off the stench.
RCB spokesman Qaiser Mahmood said the sanitation department was working around the clock to clean up all Cantonment areas. He said that the process of improving the sanitation system and filling the gap in the number of cleaning staff has begun.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2022.