RAWALPINDI: Dumping of solid waste by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) at a landfill site along Government Social Security Hospital on I. J. Principal Road is a serious health and environmental issue for the residents of the adjoining areas.

The CDA piles up garbage in heaps at the site which cannot cope with the refuse, creating foul smell in the area.

If the waste is burnt it, the smoke envelopes the entire area adjacent to the dumping site.

The CDA has allowed a private cement factory to pick garbage to use as fuel to burn its plants.

The official of the company at the site said they only collected wood waste, pampers and animal skin waste.

During a visit to the area one can see mounds of waste material rotting in the open providing a breeding ground for rodents, flies and insects.

“The CDA dumped the solid waste and burned it at night and the smoke and foul smell emitting from the garbage spread to the areas of Habib Colony, Westridge Valley and even at Westridge-III,” said Bilal Ahmed, a resident of Habib Colony.

He said that people could not keep their windows open at night due to the foul smell that taxed the nerves of the residents, besides causing them allergies.

Malik Riaz, a resident of Westridge-III, said rats had increased in his area owing to dumping of solid waste along I.J. Principal Road.

He said that the smoke emitting from the garbage created breathing problems for the residents of the area.

He maintained that the government should ban dumping solid waste near residential areas.

Malik Riaz was a bit sarcastic when he said the CDA cleaned their area but created problems for the residents of the garrison city.

Sheikh Mohammad Bashir, a resident of British Homes, said the foul smell produced by the piles of garbage, especially in the evening, polluted the environment of the nearby areas. He pointed out that there was no boundary wall around the landfill site.

He said the overflowing garbage dumpers which came to the dumping site also polluted the area, adding that such sites should be shifted outside the city area.

When contacted, District Officer (Environment) Mian Mohammad Nawaz said that improper dumping of solid waste not only created environmental problems but was also dangerous to human health as biological decomposition of solid waste produce nitrogen and ammonia gases which decrease oxygen in the area.

He said that open dumping sites were nurseries for diseases and also a source of ground water contamination.

He said the ideal situation was that garbage should be buried in a landfill.

First a bulldozer should turn it into a thin pile and then an earthmover should spread a thin layer of soil over the garbage.

He said the Punjab Environmental Protection Agency (Punjab-EPA) director general had been informed about the environmental problems due to the landfill site of CDA with a recommendation to take up the issue with Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA).

PML-N MNA Malik Ibrar told Dawn that he received 100 complaints daily about the foul smell and smoke rising from the garbage burnt by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) at the site but all requests to the CDA fell on deaf ear.

He said that the landfill site in close proximity of the hospital, meant for the poor, created problems for the patients.

He said that the matter had been brought to the notice of the authorities concerned but they would listen only after there was dengue outbreak or any other disease in the area following monsoon season.

He said people from Westridge-III, Westridge Valley, Habib Colony, British Homes, Naseerabad, Peshawar Mor and adjoining areas had staged protests many a time.

He told this reporter that he had asked the CDA chairman to look for an alternative site for dumping garbage. The chairman has assured me that he would solve the problem soon, the PML-N MNA said.

He said that he had no option but to raise the issue in the National Assembly after Eidul Fitr.

He said he himself had visited the area and found that the place had become a habitat for dogs, rats.

Mohammad Aslam, Chiraat Cement Factory official who manages the collection of flammable items from the site, told Dawn that his factory picked up burnable garbage from the site under an agreement with the CDA.

“The CDA dumped the waste and the company segregates it to collect flammable items from the garbage,” he said.

He said there were many issues but most of them had been solved.

“Earlier, the CDA used to dump poultry feed waste, dead animals and other material which gave out a foul smell. Now they have stopped dumping such items which eradicated foul smell from the area,” he said.

He said if the CDA allocated the sanitary landfill site outside the city the company would move there.

“We have no issue if the CDA shifts the site somewhere else as we are bound to work with the authority,” he said.

A senior official of the CDA requesting not to be named told Dawn that the authority was looking for some alternative landfill site but so far it has not made any progress.

He said it had some 500 kanals for landfill site near Shah Allah Ditta but it had been occupied by encroachers.

He said the CDA also wanted to move the site outside the city as it planned to develop I-12 sector.

The official said people, including public representatives, had raised the landfill site issue, asking the CDA to shift it from its present location.

This would raise the value of their land adjacent to 1-12 sector.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2014