City officials say old site usable, residents came after dump had been set up. PHOTO: AFP
RAWALPINDI:
What came to Bhatta Chowk first, the garbage dump or the residential area? While the answer to the question is well-known, the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has not been able to find a solution to the garbage problem that satisfies locals and simultaneously gives the city’s garbage a place to go.
The RCB has been finding it hard to find a suitable place to dump solid waste after residents of Dhoke Gujran began protesting over the existing dump site near the populated area.
The RCB administration had been facing resistance for many years from local residents over the policy of dumping solid waste near Bhatta Chowk in the outskirts of the city.
Every day, around 500 tons of solid waste generated from Rawalpindi was dumped at the site.
An RCB official said they had been dumping at the Bhatta Chowk location since 1960, when the area used to be deserted and at a reasonable distance from residential localities.
After locals began protesting, the cantonment board started searching for a suitable alternate dump site in 2008 and got the plan approved by the Ministry of Defence. However, after selecting a 180 kanal site on Chakri Road, the RCB was unable to get funding for the relocation.
Later in 2012, a new bid to acquire land was made with the price being renegotiated with the land owner and permission being obtained from the ministry, the official said.
However, a few days ago, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) stopped the RCB from finalising the site because it is close to where the new Islamabad airport is being built.
RCB Executive Officer Rana Manzoor Ahmed said efforts were on to find a suitable dumping site and 300 kanals along Tulsa Road are a possible option.
The head of the RCB administration said he had written a letter to the Rawalpindi district coordination officer (DCO) to allow them to dump waste at Losar near Rawat for one or two months while they find a suitable landfill.
However, a senior Solid Waste Department official said the site at Losar had already been filled as about 800 tons of waste is dumped there.
The city administration has also been looking for ways to recycle the waste and better utilise it to lower pressure on landfills, the official said.
However, DCO Saqib Zafar said his office had not received any letter from the RCB so far and that a decision could only be taken after reviewing the demands of the cantonment board.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2013.
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