LAHORE: As the city continues to face worst cleanliness issues, especially for the last 10 days or so, citizens have criticised the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) and its affiliated agencies/contractors in particular and the provincial government in general for their failure to keep the metropolis clean.

On the other hand, the LWMC has strictly reprimanded one of its two international contractors (Albayrak) for not making appropriate efforts to keep a number of areas in the city clean despite verbal and written complaints.

Residents of China Scheme, Shadbagh, Tariq Shaheed Road and other parts of the city have complained of not lifting the garbage from their areas. “I think this government is least interested in managing the city as its main attention seems limited to criticising the previous rulers alleged corruption,” Saleem of Shadbagh said.

According to a notice served by LWMC on Albayrak recently, the company criticised the contractor for showing inefficiency. “It has been observed that since Sept 9, waste collection has reduced significantly”.

The letter mentions clause 1.4.6 of technical specification of the contract that states that “contractor is obliged to make available all those facilities, vehicles, machinery and equipment to be necessary for adequate performance of the works in the scope of the tender.”

When contacted, a contractor’s official, who was not supposed to officially comment on the issue, admitted that the machinery being used had already attained its maximum age, leading to some cleanliness issues.

“But I think it is not at all a serious issue as mentioned by the LWMC. We are really doing our best day and night to keep the city clean,” Yaseenur Rehman, a focal person/translator for the contractor company said.

He also held the LWMC responsible for not maintaining its major dumping site at Lakhudair. “The ground infrastructure at Lakhudair is not being maintained well, as ours and other contractor’s trucks use to overturn off and on. This is also one of the reasons for cleanliness issues,” Rehman maintained.

However, an LWMC spokesman said the problems such as overturning of dumper trucks/machinery at Lakhudair site emerged for some days due to recent rains in Lahore.

“But we have succeeded in resolving this issue by making passages for entry/exit and movement of trucks and other vehicles without any trouble there,” he claimed.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2020