KARACHI, Nov 26: The Town Municipal Administration of North Nazimabad has turned a courtyard of a building structure in Block B into a dumping ground for all sorts of waste and trash collected from the entire North Nazimabad Town, as well as parts of Liaquatabad and Gulberg towns, and the resultant pungent smell has turned lives of the people living in and the nearby area extremely miserable.
The daily pick-and-drop garbage through heavy dumpers and the presence of heaps of garbage in the courtyard pose a serious threat to public health in the area as because of this nuisance, insects, particularly flies and mosquitoes, have invaded the locality and made it an ideal breeding ground.
A recent visit to the area by this scribe confirmed the complaints of the area people about the problem and its magnitude. Surrounded by the densely populated localities of Block B, Musa Goth and Wahid Colony, the dumping site (or a massive kachra kundi, as the people prefer to call it) poses a serious health risk to the lives of thousands of people, especially children.
Area residents say that dumpers keep shuttling between the dump and the pick up points from dawn to dusk, and in the evening, these dumpers start lifting the garbage from the transitory dumping site for transporting it to some landfill site for disposal. Dr Ahsan Jamil, one of the residents and a social activist, told Dawn that he, along with other area people, called on Union Council Nazim Faisal Moeez and Town Nazim Mumtaz Hameed and apprised them of the problem. However, they maintained that they had no other proper place to dump the waste. Dr Ahsan said, and showed several letters he had written to the officials of different departments concerned to get the problem resolved.
Zainul Aabideen, a pan shop owner of the area, says that because of this problem, it has become very difficult for him to do the business.
Mohammad Ahsanullah, a bakery owner, says that this mountain of filth is a major source of the spread of various diseases in the area. “Children, being the most vulnerable, are the worst hit,” he added. The situation has worsened amid the outbreak of the dengue haemorrhagic fever as the dumping exercise has fully exposed people of this town to the fatal virus that has already claimed about 40 lives and affected thousands others across the city.
“The unbearable stink does not allow me to sit on my shop comfortably and I have to mask my face with a cloth especially in the evening when the pungent odour of the filth is at its peak,” Mr Aabideen says.
Mr Imran, a local political activist and resident of Musa Goth, says the area people have been experiencing the problem for the several years and their repeated complaints have fallen on deaf ears.
He claims that the garbage lifted from three towns – Gulberg, North Nazimabad and Liaquatabad – is dumped in the area. "Because of the constant shuttling of these heavy dumpers, all roads in the area have developed huge potholes and wide cracks which have rendered the thoroughfares unmotorable,” Mr Imran pointed out.
Abdul Aziz, another resident endorsed Mr Imran’s claim, saying that both the main roads between this locality and Ziauddin Hospital are in a ramshackle condition because of the garbage transportation activity through the heavy dumpers. Besides, he said, traffic accidents in the area had remarkably increased.
He also stated that the area residents had been receiving contaminated water for a couple of months because most manholes along the main road have caved in due to the dumpers’ movement and this had resulted in the accumulation of sewage on main roads.
The area residents accuse UC Nazim Faisal Moeez of threatening them with arrest if they did not stop clamouring over the issue.
Nazim of North Nazimabad Town Mumtaz Hameed, when contacted, told this scribe: “Since there was no proper site available to dump the town’s garbage, we have been dumping it in the courtyard of the under-construction building of Central Avenue, opposite Musa Goth, for the time being. But now, the town administration will collect the garbage from all the UCs under his administration and dump it at three points identified in the Paposh Nagar graveyard, Buffer Zone’s nullah near Shafiq Morr and Block B (opposite Musa Goth).”
From these points, he says, the trash will be transported to the landfill site in Jam Chakro, outside the city limits, during night hours for disposal.
When asked to comment on the widespread complaints about serious health risk posed by the dumping activity in the area, he tried to evade the question. However, he maintained: "We have shifted much of the garbage load from the area to two other places and this will mitigate the sufferings of the area residents to a large extent.” He claimed that the town administration had spread limestone powder to eliminate insects. However, area residents strongly disputed his claim.
UC Nazim Faisal Moeez, when contacted, said that the garbage dumping point would be shifted to Pahar Ganj in a couple of days as trenches had been developed there for the purpose.
KARACHI, Nov 26: The Town Municipal Administration of North Nazimabad has turned a courtyard of a building structure in Block B into a dumping ground for all sorts of waste and trash collected from the entire North Nazimabad Town, as well as parts of Liaquatabad and Gulberg towns, and the resultant pungent smell has turned lives of the people living in and the nearby area extremely miserable.
