Federal city: All for dumping grounds

CDA since its establishment has been disposing municipal solid waste in unscientific manner in open dumps in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD:

Without considering the importance of garbage, the CDA since its establishment has been disposing municipal solid waste in an unscientific manner in open dumps in Islamabad.

CDA Member Environment Ahsan Mangi claimed that waste generation in Islamabad is around 600 metric tons per day nowadays. Zone I of the federal capital has a population of around one million.

Sanitation Directorate of the CDA has the functional responsibility of sweeping, collection, transportation and disposal of solid waste collected within the CDA’s administered area. The authority also performs sanitary work through private contractor firms in six residential sectors.

The CDA’s sanitation directorate covers only one million, around half of the total population of Islamabad. While for the rest sanitation services are provided by the ICT Administration.

In the absence of a proper landfill site the CDA dumps around 600 tons of solid waste per day in open space. Currently, the authority is dumping waste near residential sector D-12.

In the late 80s the authority started dumping garbage at sector H-12 and continued the practice till year 2006. Later, it was shifted to sector H-11. But after Islamabad High Court ordered that the site be shifted, it was moved to I-14 in 2010. Later the site was shifted to I-12 in 2011 and in 2013 to D-12.

A study conducted in 2010 by the experts of Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Nilore, and Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nilore, showed that municipal waste has distorted the soil ambiance. Experts noted that if current waste disposal procedures are continuously employed, an environmental issue is likely.Experts noted that if current waste disposal procedures are continuously employed, an environmental issue is likely.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2014.