MUZAFFARGARH, Aug 25: Smoke billowing out of burnt heaps of garbage in every street deprives the passers-by of fresh air and creates pollution in residential and commercial areas.

The tehsil municipal administration burns the waste collected by its sanitation staff in the absence of waste disposal arrangements in the city. There is not a single dumping place in the city, leaving streets and roadsides littered with garbage.

People have to give extra money to sanitation staff for cleanliness which is the primary duty of the officials.

Syed Nadeem Shah of Chah Mithuwala said they collected Rs50 from each house every month to give to the TMA sanitation staff to keep the street clean. “If we don’t give extra money to the staff, they avoid turning up and leave the street hard to go pass due to stink and miasma,” he said.

Mazhar Pahoor, a tehsil council member, said they had asked TMO Ghulam Fareed Kherani to check sanitation of the city but “he doesn’t leave his office”. He said according to the TMA record there were 150 sanitation workers, but only 15 workers actually worked in the city as a vast majority of them served at the places of the TMO, the tehsil nazim and other staff.

Even the tractor-trolleys purchased for collecting garbage were being used by the tehsil nazim and the TMO for personal works.

Muzammil Husain, a citizen, said the TMO staff collected waste only from the main bazaar and threw it near the railway station. Those living around the station complained that waste dumping had become a constant nuisance for them as it was for the entire city.

Syed Fiaz Husain Naqvi, who lives near a level crossing, said the rates of property in the area had come down due to poor sanitation. He said in most of the cities the TMOs had set up dumping spots outside the city, but in Muzaffargarh garbage was being dumped in the city.

TMO Farid Kherani denied using the sanitation staff and vehicles for personal gain. He said the entire staff performed its duty properly and the city’s sanitation condition was satisfactory