SIALKOT: The heaps of trash in city’s congested residential, commercial and industrial areas leave a question mark on the performance of the Sialkot Municipal Corporation (SMC) and the Sialkot Waste Management Company (SWMC).

The unintended rotten trash is creating a strong stink making roads and streets no-go areas in the Sialkot city. Both the SMC and the SWMC are putting responsibility for the worst situation on each other here.

Sialkot city’s business, social, religious and political circles have expressed concern over this critical condition. They have urged the officials of the SWMC and the SMC to ensure early lifting and removal of the trash from all parts of the city and ensure their early dumping at the suitable places on the outskirts of the city.

They also urged to ensure the early repairing or replacing of broken tractor trolleys of the SMC as well, which the corporation used to use to lift the garbage.

SWMC officials said that the city produced 400 tons garbage daily.

PML-N leaders Chaudhry Muhammad Ikram and Manshaullah Butt (former MPAs), Jamaat-i-Islami leaders Dr Shakeel Thakur and Arif Mehmood Sheikh, and PPP leaders Azhar Ali Diyal, Ali Naseer Malik and Javaid Happy Butt have expressed grave concern over the poor cleanliness situation. They said that the cleanliness situation has become worst in Sialkot city. They said the Sialkot district administration was not paying attention towards the situation.

They said it was the prime obligation of the local bodies to provide better cleanliness facilities to the people. They alleged that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government had miserably failed to provide better cleanliness facilities to the people in Sialkot city.

There is no proper trash dumping point in Sialkot. Both the SMC and the SWMC have yet to establish an outfall point to treat the trash, said PPP leaders Diyal and Happy Butt. “A few years ago, the SMC allocated Rs170 million for the establishment of a dumping point on the outskirts of the city, but the project could not be materialised due to some unknown reasons,” said an SMC official.

Deputy Commissioner Dr Syed Bilal Akbar asked the SWMC to improve their performance and make Sialkot a clean city.

He said the purpose of establishing the waste management company was to ensure early lifting of the garbage from trash points besides ensuring the proper dumping of the trash and garbage as per the principles of hygiene in a bid to lessen environmental pollution affects in Sialkot city as well. SWMC officials said shopping and commercial plazas, housing societies, wedding marquees and marriage halls should ensure their cleanliness by dumping the garbage by their own resources.

People have urged Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Gujranwala Commissioner Waqas Ali Mahmood and the DC to take notice of the situation.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2019