Trash : Garbage creates nuisance for residents

Unattended waste at Khanna Pul, Faizabad pose serious threats for health.

ISLAMABAD: Unattended garbage has created nuisance for residents of Khanna Pul, Sohan, Faizabad and Shakrial, who have asked the civic agency to thrash out a mechanism to collect and dispose of the trash on a daily basis.

A heap of unattended garbage could be seen strewn across roads and streets, which poses serious threat to the health of the citizens living these localities. The citizens alleged that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has turned a deaf ear to the issues, exposing them to different health hazards.

Raja Mushtaq, a citizen of Faizabad, said that the residents were facing foul stench, emanating from the garbage strewn at various localities while the civic agency has ignore that part of its jurisdiction.  “The CDA has become oblivious to the problem and heaps of garbage has become a source of constant nuisance for the residents,” he said.

Besides this, burning of plastic bags and other waste material is also contributing to the air pollution besides putting the residents at the risk of respiratory and other diseases.

Kashif Raja, a resident of Khanna Pul, said that the issue of waste disposal required immediate attention of the authorities, as according to him sanitary workers instead of removing the garbage dump and incinerate the waste on roadsides. “This causes more trouble to the residents especially the elderly,” he said.

A senior official of the civic agency claimed that residents in these areas dump solid waste at improper places despite availability of CDA dustbins. He said that huge piles of rubbish could be seen everywhere even beside the dustbins.

Polyclinic Executive Director Dr Zahid said that unattended and improper disposal of waste was causing serious threat to human health.  He said that residents of the areas suffer from infectious and respiratory diseases.

The CDA official also complained that the residents also throw the waste in sewerage lines and drains, causing them to choke. “We are doing our best but it is a shared responsibility to keep city and water courses clean. The citizens must also fulfill their responsibilities,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2015.