Garbage piles are eyesore in Mianwali

Stinking rubbish becomes nuisance for passersby

MIANWALI:

The cities of the district are plagued with heaps of garbage. Moreover, overflowing sewers have made the situation worse.

The passersby are bearing the brunt of the filthy cities of the district.

According to an unofficial report, the number of sanitary workers in Mianwali had been outnumbered by the burgeoning population of the city.

When new sewer lines are laid, their debris is usually thrown into the old sewers, blocking the sewage flow.

According to the sanitary staff, people throw their garbage in the streets instead of binning them in the skips provided by the municipality. This lack of civic sense among those who litter their streets with garbage makes the task of the municipal workers of keeping the city tidy even more challenging.

Apart from this, people generally do not build their houses according to the map due to which drainage problems increase manifold.

The unofficial report refers to a “formula” according to which one sweeper was needed for every 500 people. According to this calculation, more or less 2,000 to 2,500 sanitary workers were required in Mianwali city to keep it tidy. At present, however, there were around 100 workers only.

Often sanitary workers were employed on temporary basis who leave their jobs due to non-payment of salaries because the municipality was facing a shortage of funds. The shortage was due to non-disbursement of funds by the government.

Another important problem is related to some sanitary workers who cheat with the municipality. Such workers did manage to get into the municipality, but they do not clean drains.

Meanwhile, Sajid Khan, the Sargodha division vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, a four-time elected councilor of Mianwali municipality, appealed to the deputy commissioner to visit the city so that he could know about the suffering of the people.

The duration to run turbines for water supply scheme of Mianwali city has been reduced. Water supply to houses and mosques has been suspended.

In Mianwali city (municipal committee limits), the duration to run turbines installed for water supply has been reduced to only four hours. Currently, there are a total of 10 turbines working in the city.

The Municipal Commissioner, Khalid Khan, said that the duration of running of turbines was reduced due to the huge number of unpaid water bills.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 23^rd, 2022.