SIALKOT: Heaps of garbage in almost all of the city’s congested residential, commercial and industrial areas have left a question mark on the performance of the Municipal Corporation (MC) and Sialkot Waste Management Company (SWMC).

The garbage not only creates a foul smell in the areas, but also causes suffocation and environmental pollution in the city.

Locals have urged the SWMC and MC to ensure early lifting of garbage from across the city and its dumping at a suitable spot in the outskirts. The MC was using broken tractor trolleys for lifting the garbage that the locals pleaded should be repaired.

SWMC officials said 400 tonnes of garbage is disposed of daily by residents of the city.

Local Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders Umer Dar, Usman Dar and Arif Ahmed Khawaja also expressed concern over poor cleanliness of the city. They said it was the prime duty of local bodies to provide better cleanliness facilities to people.

Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor Chaudhry Bashir Ahmed said the MC would soon establish trash and garbage dumping points in the outskirts of the city. Earlier, a lack of such a site had led to problems for sanitation staff in disposing of the garbage.

He said the MC had allocated Rs170 million for establishing a dumping ground and officials concerned had started searching for suitable land for this purpose.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Dr Farooq Naveed asked the SWMC to play its role in making the city clean, saying the corporation should also devise better plans and ensure early implementation on them.

Addressing a meeting of local officials of the SWMC on Wednesday, Dr Naveed said the purpose of establishing the waste management company was not only to lift garbage from trash points across Sialkot, but also ensure proper disposal of that trash.

The DC said the operation for uplifting garbage from the city was satisfactory, but required improvement.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2018