ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) on Thursday claimed to have cleaned Islamabad and Rawalpindi of offal, entrails and other waste material and to have picked up thousands of tonnes of waste between them during Eid.

Workers from the CDA’s Sanitation Directorate collected and disposed of the offal and entrails of more than 55,000 sacrificial animals.

According to a press release the Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Ansar Aziz, who is also CDA chairman, visited various sectors and model towns in the urban areas in order to inspect the arrangements made by the Sanitation Directorate for the special cleanliness operation.

The mayor was accompanied by Chief Metropolitan Corporation Officer Asad Mehboob Kayani, director sanitation, other officers of relevant formations and local representatives.

CDA disposes of offal, entrails of 55,000 animals while RWMC buries 7,500 tonnes of remains, waste

During the visit, the chief metropolitan officer told the mayor that 35 deep ditches and trenches had been dug up in 18 different locations around the city where the remains and offal of sacrificial animals were disposed off according to procedure.

He was told that Islamabad had been divided into six zones for the drive and that more than 2,000 sanitary workers including sweepers, supervisory staff, contractors’ staff and officers were deployed for the drive.

Officers and employees of Emergency and Disaster Management and other formations also assisted in the said operation.

The press release claims that every street in Islamabad was cleaned and that 150 vehicles including tractors and trolleys were used during the operation. Lime powder was also sprinkled in placed were sacrifices took place and around ditches and garbage trolleys.

The staff was given their meals in the field in order to avoid wasting time and a helpline was also established.

The press release reports the mayor as saying that for the first time, all the officers and employees of relevant formation had taken full part in the operation, which had made it a success.

He is also reported to have said that the residents of the city had also cooperated in the drive and that 100 people had called on the helpline regarding the collection and disposal of animal remains.

Meanwhile in Rawalpindi, the RWMC disposed of 7,500 tonnes of offal and animal waste in a landfill site at Losar, near Adiala Village, during the three days of Eid.

After the completion of the Eid cleanliness operation Thursday evening, RWMC Managing Director Dr Irfan Qureshi told Dawn that 300 of the company’s vehicles and 217 rented ones had been used during the drive to remove animal waste from the Rawalpindi district.

“We distributed 350,000 waste bags among the people to put animal waste in and to hand over to sanitary workers and 30 collection and transfer points were established across the city,” he said.

Dr Qureshi said that trenches had been dug up at the landfill site to dump the waste in according to the standard operating procedures issued by the Punjab government and environment agencies.

He said that the collection points and streets had on Thursday been sprayed with anti-bacterial medicines, lime and rose water to avoid foul smells.

During their visit to various parts of the city, District Coordination Officer Talat Mehmood Gondal and MPA Raja Hanif Advocate said they were pleased with the cleanliness drive.

Dr Qureshi told them that banners and posters had been displayed across the city with a telephone number to call on in case of complaints.

He added that RWMC had received many complaints which were addressed in 15 minutes on average. He said the waste was not kept overnight and that workers were deployed to dispose of the waste around the clock.

Dr Qureshi said that the area around the airport was especially focused on in order to ensure waste is not dumped along the runway.

Union council chairmen have also helped in raising awareness among the people and telling them to not dump waste along roads and hand it over to sanitary workers, he added.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2016