TAXILA: Local activists on Wednesday expressed concerns over the establishment of a landfill site by the Islamabad administration in Sangjani, near Chokar, which has been declared a reserved forest of the Margalla Hills National Park located in Taxila revenue limits.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has planned a landfill site on 70 acres to dump 700 to 800 tonnes of garbage and municipal solid waste per day.

The site has already been declared a reserved forest of the Margalla Hills National Park and is located within the territory of the Punjab province, regulated under the 1927 Forest Act.

Social workers, environmentalists and public representatives have criticised the Islamabad administration’s proposal to establish a landfill in this area, saying it is a violation of section 27 of the Forest Act.

Syed Zaheer Shah Zaildar, a local politician, said the proposed site falls within the limits of the Margalla Hills National Park and the Supreme Court has banned any activity in this area in order to protect the ecology of the park and its reserved forest.

Human rights activist Syed Ahsan Shah said that the land is a protected forest department site and, under section 27 of the Forest Act, the Punjab government should not allow any change in land use for a reserved forest. He said the proposed landfill site was a flagrant violation of the act.

Munaza Peerzada, an environmentalist, said that while the government has made claims about protecting the environment through the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami programme, a project such as the landfill site could threaten the area’s environment and ecology.

She said any reserved forest cannot be de-notified, adding that the landfill would threaten the ecology of the national park and nearby housing developments including the proposed Punjab government labour colony, as well as pollute groundwater in the vicinity of these developments.

The land for the proposed landfill site is under the administrative control of the Punjab government and is governed by section 12 of the Punjab Environmental Protection Act 1997, social worker Tahir Suleman said, so executing projects in such a sensitive area would raise eyebrows.

When contacted, CDA Sanitation Director Sardar Khan Zimri said that the issue of properly disposing of garbage in the capital was on the cusp of resolution after a consensus was reached on a landfill site near Sangjani.

“The federal capital needs to consider how to provide for the future disposal of solid waste. This site is the most environmentally and financially sound option,” he said.

He said all the necessary arrangements have been finalised and the authority is working on collaborating with private partners as well.

“Prior to this, various other proposals for a landfill site failed due to the absence of funds,” he added.

A private consultant selected the location near Sangjani to set up a permanent landfill due to its minimum hauling distance, suitable topography, distance from aircraft routes for flight safety and socioeconomic factors.

To a question, Mr Zimri said the CDA would hold a public hearing on the landfill project soon before giving its final approval.

After hiring experts, he said, consultants will have to prepare an environmental impact assessment in three months to obtain approval from the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency.

He said consultants would carry out geo-tagging and drilling to evaluate the site’s water table.

Mohammad Amin Baig, the deputy director of the environmental protection department’s Rawalpindi chapter, when contacted, said that neither the CDA nor any other executing agency has obtained no-objection certificate to dump garbage in a reserved forest site.

He said the project was being executed in the middle of various housing developments and is adjacent to the Margalla Hills National Park.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2020