June 29, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 13, 1428

GUJRANWALA, June 28: Advent of monsoon has compounded problems of several localities in interior parts of the city especially those around an all-season filth depot — a storehouse of dirt, vermin and disease.

Many residents, most of them children, have complaints about diseases as insanitary conditions have become a part of air they breathe in.

Information gleaned by Dawn revealed that at least 1,000 ton garbage was dumped in filth depots in interior parts of the city. While the Tehsil Municipal Administration has set up several filth depots at places like Garjakhi Gate, Khiali Gate, Gulshan Iqbal Park, Shaheenabad, GT Road near Edhi centre and College Road, more than 30 other places have been converted into garbage corners where solid waste is being thrown from all around.

Odour emitting out of the garbage and miasma have been a constant headache for the residents.

A former general councillor of Shaheenabad locality, Mehr Muhammad Tariq said the filth depot in front of Gulshan Iqbal park had not only spoiled the ambience of the recreation facility, but also become a source of pollution. People avoided passing through the area due to stink, he added.

Khan Muhammad, a resident of Garjakhi Gate, said the filth depot and tonga stand in the area had become a menace for the people. Some residents and traders had time and again demanded that the authorities should remove the filth depot as the latter cried out that their customers avoided visiting the market plagued by garbage.

At old Dhulley, Garjakh and some adjacent localities, it is learnt, the people dump the garbage in drains and at open places.

Mian Mukhtar Ahmad of Arsal Colony said sanitary workers lifted the garbage from streets and bazaars and dumped it at open places in populous areas. He said the main gate of the Jamia Masjid Bilal was where garbage was littered which became nauseating for the visitors.

The Solid Waste Management Department, which was functioning under the tehsil municipal corporation till 2005, failed to maintain cleanliness by timely and proper disposal of garbage. Coming under the direct control of the City District Government Gujranwala, it has gone from bad to worse.

Garbage being dumped near the vegetable market speaks of a pathetic situation the city is facing.

DO (Environment) Shafqat Saeed Farooqi said the district administration was planning to develop a landfill in collaboration with Nespak, but unavailability of land was a major hurdle so far.

DO (solid waste management) Chaudhry Muhammad Saeed claimed that machinery had been purchased for lifting the garbage and around 100 acres of agricultural land would be acquired to dump the solid waste outside the city at a cost of Rs250 million.