RAWALPINDI: The district administration has decided to approach the federal cabinet secretariat against the dumping of solid waste along I.J. Principal Road by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) as it created pollution and health problems for the residents.

During a meeting presided over by Punjab Minister for Labour and Manpower Raja Ashfaq Sarwar here on Saturday, PML-N MNA Malik Abrar raised the open dumping of solid waste near the Social Security Hospital at I.J.P. Road.

The minister constituted a two-member team, comprising District Officer Environment Mohammad Nawaz and Rawalpindi Waste Management Company Managing Director Irfan Qureshi, to submit a report so that Parliamentary Secretary Cabinet Secretariat Raja Javed Ikhlas would take up the issue with the CDA.

After visiting the site, the committee finalised its report and sent it to the district coordination officer to forward it to the Cabinet Secretariat.

The report stated that action should be taken against the CDA for the violation of Section 11 and 12 of the Pakistan Environment Protection Act 1997. It said the open dumping of solid waste was creating pollution/problems by means of obnoxious smell, excessive smoke and dust in the area.

“It may be a cause of respiratory and eye diseases among the people living in and around the site. It seems that violation of Section 11&12 of the Pakistan Environment Protection Act 1997 is being committed,” the report said.

The committee observed that the residents of Westridge, Rawalpindi Cantonment, Habib Colony, Carriage Factory and British Homes were facing foul smell, dust and smoke due to the transportation, burning and improper dumping of solid waste across the road.

The waste is collected with the help of trucks/dumpers and trolleys of the CDA from various areas of Islamabad and dumped/stored at the site in the territorial limits of the CDA across the I.J.P. Road. Metallic, nonmetallic and cloth are separated with the help of machines/plants. During this process, obnoxious smell and excessive dust spread in the area. Smoke is also emitted due to the burning of solid waste which is causing pollution as well as public nuisance.

It said due to the dumping of municipal waste at the site a leachate was produced and its infiltration may cause contamination of ground water. The solid waste is being dumped openly at a vacant land which is not a proper/scientific land fill site so it is causing obnoxious smell in the area. Animals such as dogs, cats, mouse and crows etc. reach the dumping site and may act as the carrier agents of harmful germs.

It said excessive smoke with obnoxious/foul smell was emitted during the burning of the solid waste.

The emission of smoke and excessive dust is causing adverse impact on the environment and human health. It may cause diseases like eye irritation and damage the respiratory system of the people living in and around the site at Rawalpindi side.

The report recommended that necessary legal action may be initiated against the alleged open dumping of solid waste under the relevant provisions of the Pakistan Environment Protection Act 1997 through the director general Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency, Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2014