KARACHI, Nov 22: Unhygienic conditions prevail in almost all localities of the city due to the local authorities’ failure in lifting and disposing of more than half of the waste generated every day.

The citizens have been experiencing hazardous environment as the unattended heaps of garbage and waste remain scattered across streets, roads and lanes.

Except for a few towns, unhygienic conditions have turned serious and in some localities alarming. The town administrations’ inability to carry out proper cleanliness in their respective jurisdictions has been attributed to a variety of reasons, mainly being a shortage of funds.

A survey shows that at present, only 40 per cent of the domestic solid waste is collected by the sanitation staff while the rest is thrown in undesignated garbage dumps or onto roads and streets. When the dumps swell to become a huge rock, the garbage is set on fire for the purpose of disposal, though the practice only adds to already heavily polluted environment of the city. Both the haphazard dumping of garbage and its burning within populated areas have been posing a serious threat to public health.

It is estimated that the removal of 40 per cent solid waste collected from households to land fill site outside the city costs the government exchequer Rs800 million per annum. The operation involves 15,188 staff and more than 550 vehicles.

Successive governments have remarkably neglected this essential utility service which is related directly to public health as well as beautification of each and every part of the metropolis. Regrettably, not a single concrete step has been taken to dispose of solid waste completely on a daily and permanent basis.

The relevant departments’ intermittent cleanliness campaigns appeared just cosmetic measures which result in temporary relief to the citizens. The problem surfaces with even more intensity after the campaign is over. An official of city government has now indicated that in view of the gravity of the situation, the CDGK has intends to launch a new project named ‘Waste to Energy’.—PPI