RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) will distribute 600,000 bags to houses for sacrificial animal waste collection.

But in rural areas of Islamabad, the almost non-existent waste management system will pose even bigger problems during Eidul Azha.

Irfan Qureshi, the RWMC managing director, said the bags would be distributed early on Friday morning and would be collected by the sanitary workers for disposal. He said the bags were environmental friendly and would not be damaging when disposed in a landfill site at Losar.

For the first time, more than 20 camps have been established in the city and teams have been deployed for round-the-clock cleaning. Also, 27 collection camps have been formed where animal waste and offal will be collected to be transported to Losar.

Mr Qureshi said the company had allocated 199 vehicles and hired 34 more to transport animal waste outside the city. He said sanitary workers would remain on duty all the three days of Eid.

“The RWMC estimates that 4,000 tons of animal waste will be collected on the first day, 2,000 tons on the second and 1,500 tons on the third day of Eid and arrangements have been made accordingly.”

Meanwhile, residents of rural parts of Islamabad are facing huge problems with heaps of garbage and no solid system for waste management and the problem is likely to worsen during Eid.

A resident of Bhara Kahu, Mohammad Ismail, said, “We don’t have a truck or sanitary workers to pick the garbage. We are suffering a lot and the problem will intensify during Eid.”

Islamabad is administratively divided into two parts: the Capital Development Authority (CDA) runs the affairs of urban areas while Islamabad District Administration looks after rural areas.

Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Mushtaq Ahmed said they were facing a shortage of funds which was why a proper garbage collection system was not in place. He said they arranged for Qingqi motorcycles to collect waste in one union council.

He said, “This year I directed our Union Councils administration to ensure there is no offal and waste from sacrificial animals, at least not in densely populated areas”.

Dr Sharif Astori, from Polyclinic hospital, said waste and offal from animals were infectious and lead to diseases. He said when other animals ingest such waste; the threat of spreading diseases is worsened. He said the waste should not just be thrown away, but properly disposed off in landfills.

Bhara Kahu and Sihala are densely populated areas without proper waste management systems. An ICT official said during PPP’s regime, the ICT administration received Rs20 million in funds for waste management but so far the project has not been started.

Usman Khan, a Bharaku trader said, “This is unjust to people in rural areas who are being ignored by ICT, while residents of urban areas have proper sanitation provided by the CDA”.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2015

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