Efficient garbage collection a distant reality

Heaps of trash have propped up all over the city as citizens question administration’s competency

KARACHI:

Swarms of flies circle the garbage that has been sitting in containers across Karachi, as residents continue to await the appearance of Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) staff to rid their locality of the stench.

Aided in part by the monsoon downpour, heaps of garbage have begun appearing all across the metropolis, which apart from being a filthy sight for the eyes has led residents to believe that they are on their own.

Mukaram Mustafa, a resident of Gulshan Iqbal Block Four, believes that his hopes of getting any sort of service from the provincial administration are long gone. “I have not seen a single staff member of SSWMB going door to door collecting garbage. In fact, SSWMB has not come to our area at all.” Mustafa, like the others in his area, are now relying on private sanitation workers to get rid of the piles of trash. Babar Shaheen, a resident of Orangi Town in District West, finds himself in a similar predicament as Mustafa.

“The SSWMB workers are not reliable at all. They show up some days and then disappear for weeks. I had to hire private sanitary workers to pick up our garbage.” Apart from residents being dissatisfied with SSWMB’s work, Zulfiqar Ali Shah, President of the Sajjan Union, which represents sanitation workers, has a bone to pick with the waste disposal company as well. “SSWMB is busy in its publicity campaign instead of doing any actual sanitation work,” Shah remarked bluntly.

He was of the view that the garbage disposal company worked when it wanted to and there was no truth to its claims of collecting garbage door to door. Shah went a step further and alleged that SSWMB staff when it worked kept itself busy by collecting money from people for disposing of trash instead of providing a free service. “This organisation is a huge failure.” However, SSWMB Executive Director Operational, Tariq Nizamani, disagrees stating that they were responsible for collecting 9,000 tons of waste from municipal areas and were doing a good job.

“SSWMB was established because of Karachi’s sanitation issues and we have vastly improved waste collection in the city.” When told that citizens had alleged that there was no actual door to door collection, Nizamani informed that SSWMB had contracted three Chinese companies for the sanitation work which in turn had purchased 300 to 400 rickshaws to make sure that staff can easily go to every house. “It is mandatory for our staff to go door to door and provide the service free of charge.” But Mohammad Akhtar, a resident of Peer Ilahi Buksh (PIB) Colony in District East, concurring with Shah’s views, alleged that there’s zero truth to the organisation’s claims. “Only once have I seen a rickshaw of the SSWMB picking up the garbage in a street of our area in the last year.”

Akhtar further added that all claims about the service being free were false as well. Nizamani, when informed about the resident’s plight, suggested that those who were dissatisfied with the service could file complaints on the company’s mobile application. “If any of our staff is negligent, citizens should inform us so that we can take it up with the contracted companies and freeze their payment,” Nizamani told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2022.