RAWALPINDI: The district administration and the Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonment boards on Friday completed sanitation arrangements for Eidul Azha.
There are also strict security arrangements in place for the occasion, and police officials have been assigned to sites where Eid congregations are scheduled to be held. The cantonment boards and the district administration are also cleaning the streets.
The Rawalpindi Waste Management Company has cancelled Eid holidays for around 2,200 sanitation workers and officials – including sanitation department officers – to ensure cleanliness during the Eid holidays.
Sanitation workers will work in three shifts, and around 200 department vehicles will be in the field to remove animal waste.
Deputy Commissioner Talat Mehmood Gondal told Dawn that the monitoring teams have been formed and assistant commissioners will inspect the areas within their jurisdictions.
He said parks that have electric rides have been directed to make arrangements to prevent untoward situations, and special attention is being paid to Murree, where people tend to vacation on Eid. He said the assistant commissioner and municipal corporation have been asked to cancel their employees’ holidays.
Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood said they have devised a comprehensive plan to keep the water supply, water bowser and sewerage sections, and the Rawal Lake Filtration Plant functioning smoothly over Eid.
He said the concerned water supply and sewerage staff would work during the holidays, under the supervision of the concerned assistant director. All Wasa district offices in Liaquat Bagh, Commercial Market, Satellite Town, Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, Shamsabad, Moti Mehal and Gulzar-i-Quaid will remain open.
Mr Mehmood said that officials have been assigned duties in case of rainfall, and will remain alert in case of any emergency or flood-like situation in the city. He said machinery has already been installed in low-lying areas.
Hospitals have also made arrangements to deal with emergency cases, and the number of beds in emergency departments has been increased.
“Doctors will remain on duty in the emergency department, and they will handle cases of Congo fever, dengue or flood-related emergencies,” Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) medical superintendent Dr Arshad Ali Sabir told Dawn.
He said pathological laboratories would also remain open in the three hospitals’ emergency departments, as per the government’s directives. He added that beds in emergency wards have been increased.
Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2017
