QUETTA: About 22,000 tons of garbage piled during the past 10 years in the provincial capital has been lifted under the ‘one-time cleaning activity project’ under way for a few days.

Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, Administrator of the Quetta Metropolitan Corporation Arbab Jabbar Kasi said that no effort was made to dispose of the garbage during the past decade.

“The garbage was lifted from Sariab, Ghausabad, Chalo Bauri, Killi Qambrani, Joint road, Diba, Satellite Town, Sabzi Mandi, Double road, Toghi road, Nawan Killi, Airport road, Smuggli road, Sabzal road, Western Bypass, Eastern Bypass, Kashmirabad, Killi Geo, Killi Durrani, Shaldara, Ayub Stadium, Lehri Street and other areas of the city,” he said.

Cement road blocks replaced with garbage piles

He said the task was carried out jointly by sanitary workers of the corporation and private contractors. The activity could continue if the provincial government released more funds for the job, he added.

“The corporation has a capacity to lift 400 tons of garbage, while the city generates 1,000 tons daily,” he said.

Mr Kasi said the corporation had been facing an acute shortage of sanitary workers and funds.

Meanwhile, official sources told Dawn that of the 1,000 sanitary workers of the corporation about 400 were Muslim who usually refused to lift the garbage on the plea that it made their clothes ‘impure’.

The Muslim sanitary workers had been recruited by religious and nationalist political parties during the previous regimes.

It is learnt that they belonged to Chaman, Pishin, Qila Saifullah, Muslim Bagh and other areas of the province and did not attend their duty in Quetta, but draw their salary regularly.

Of the remaining 600 workers, about 250 are deployed at official residences of the governor, the chief minister, the chief secretary, provincial ministers, secretaries and other senior officials.

Over 100 workers are deputed at cleansing machinery and vehicles of the corporation and only 250 to 300 carry out cleansing work in a city of three million people.

Published in Dawn, July 17th , 2014