Operation clean-up: On the last day of deadline, RCB starts removing garbage

The LHC had given the authority three days to remove waste on Friday.

RAWALPINDI:

On the third day of a deadline given by the Lahore High Court (LHC), the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) started removing heaps of garbage from an open space, official sources said.

RCB Executive Officer Rana Manzoor Ahmed had assured the LHC Rawalpindi bench on Friday that the ground in Dhoke Syedan would be cleaned up in three days.

The process, however, will take longer to complete, said officials. The National Logistics Cell (NLC) had begun to dump debris at the 108-kanal ground.

Efforts by residents including protests bore no fruit as the RCB municipal staff remained unmoved, turning the only ground in the area into a dumping site. “This is the only place boys could play in the thickly-populated localities of Kamalabad, Ghaziabad, Dhoke Syedan and People’s Colony,” said Rashid Ali, a resident.

The land, said to be owned by the military, “should only be used as a park, playground or the construction of a public hospital,” he added.

Last year, a local resident moved the LHC after it was learnt that military authorities planned to sell the land.

Advocate Anwar Dar, citing various judgments of the higher judiciary, had maintained that parks and playgrounds could not be used for commercial activities and obtained a status quo order from the LHC last year.

As the litigation dragged on, NLC started dumping debris at the ground after Ramazan to make the place unusable for the public. The petitioner then filed an appeal with the high court stating the RCB was committing contempt of court by allowing waste and debris to be dumped at the ground.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2012.