City speaks: The dirty (Rawalpindi) picture

Brimming drains, potholed roads, traffic jams, uneven streets, garbage heaps, and encroached pavements are common.

Upon entering Rawalpindi, one is instantly assaulted by sensory overflow - brimming drains, potholed roads, traffic jams, uneven streets, garbage heaps, and encroached pavements.

This is the reality residents of the city deal with day-upon-day. Needless to say, they are not happy.

“When I say Rawalpindi is unpleasant, I mean that I am unhappy roaming about. I feel unsafe on the roads of my very own city,” shares Duae Zahra, a visitor at the Arya Mohallah market.

For Zahra, an urban centre is a living being, and its roads and streets are its blood vessels. Therefore, the maintenance of these public spaces is essential. “A city is not merely a hodgepodge of buildings,” she states emphatically.

Another resident, Talib Hussein, shares how Shah Khalid Colony consistently has sewage water standing on the road. “It becomes a terrible sight when it rains. It’s awful,” he exclaims.

Banker Asad Abbas, too, has had enough. “We clear the mess every now and then, but our efforts become useless because of the polluted water and filth,” he says angrily. “Following resident complaints, garbage trucks [now] visit twice a week to clean up the dump site, but the problem needs to be tackled permanently.”

The blame game

Ahmad Hasan, a retired army officer, says waste management should be a top priority for the Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) but the board performs the job half-heartedly.

“On my way to the Fauji Foundation Hospital near Defence Chowk, all I could see was plastic bags and other litter. They were shining performance medals for the CCB employees,” says Hasan, clearly frustrated.

Sibte Hussain, an engineer at Frontier Works Organisation, agrees with Hasan and says the fact that no one is taking full responsibility for waste management is the crux of the problem.

Hussain’s view is shared by Ali Haider, a restaurateur.

“This pile of rubbish is an eyesore,” complains Haider. For him, waste management is the responsibility of the Rawalpindi Development Authority and Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA). “We complain regularly, but the authorities keep shifting responsibility onto others’ shoulders. The CCB does not seem committed to working in the public interest.”

Yet, officials at the TMA blame the residents themselves. “The garbage problem is very frustrating for people, but they are to blame. They use every open space to dump house trash,” says an authority official.

Ali Naqi, a hotel manager, points at the complexity of the situation. For him, the issue must be addressed from all sides.

“Various agencies involved need to understand and communicate exactly where responsibilities lie. They have to agree on taking suitable measures in order to prevent this situation in the future,” he says.

“Managing the city managers is not so easy.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2013