ISLAMABAD: To maintain civic discipline in the city, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has started issuing notices to people involved in throwing garbage and construction waste in the open and wasting water.

Special teams of Sanitation Directorate spread out in sectors I-7, F-6, F-7, F-8, G-8, G-6, G-7, G-10, I-8, H-8, I-9 and H-9 on Friday and issued notices to 205 people for carelessly using water and throwing garbage in the open.

The spokesman for the civic body, Asim Khichi, said that water conservation was a necessity especially when it goes scarce in the peak summer months.

“We first tried to create awareness against misuse of water, but when people did not pay any heed to our requests we started issuing notices and challans to the violators,” Asim Khichi added.

“Incidentally, most of the residents in these sectors were educated,” he said.

The CDA has decided to initiate campaign to conserve water for the coming peak season.

In the sectors where the commodity was being supplied abundantly, water overflowed from houses into the streets without any check, a member of the raiding team said.

He said that they served notices on the residences from where the commodity was flowing onto the street, or on the residents who kept their taps in lawns running.

The notices are served by the teams of Sanitation Directorate under the Municipal Bylaws 1968 to discourage the practice of wasting water and littering in the streets.

Despite notices, a person or house keeps wasting water, challan is served on the person/house.

“The challans are presented to the magistrate who usually imposes fines ranging from Rs2,000 to Rs5,000 on the violators,” the official added.

Similarly, the CDA continues to serve notices under the anti-littering campaign which has been launched along with the water conservation campaign.

The special teams of Sanitation Department has issued notices to 54 people for throwing litter in the open areas and 32 people for dumping construction waste in the open.

Meanwhile, in a statement, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman, Maroof Afzal, has appealed to the residents of the federal capital not to waste water and dump construction waste on the streets which not only causes inconvenience to the people but was also environmentally unsafe.

“Islamabad is a beautiful city which can be maintained only with the support of the residents,” Mr Afzal said.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2014