LAHORE: Residents in various localities of the city have expressed grave concern over the Lahore Waste Management Company’s failure to lift the solid waste littering various areas, posing a serious threat to the citizens’ health.

“The company is not lifting the garbage in our area on a daily basis despite public complaints,” Qaisar, a resident of Faisal Town, told Dawn, demanding the company should take up this issue immediately.

A resident of Harbanspura, Jamil Ashraf, said the heaps of the garbage were not lifted from their locality for several days.

“In the past the company was lifting the garbage on a daily basis,” he said, adding the area residents were getting the garbage lifted to clear the roads by paying private sweepers from their own pocket.

Company boss claims ‘all is well’

A citizen of Gulberg said garbage was not being lifted from Gulberg I and II for several days and even in the posh areas like MM Alam Road no sanitary services were being provided to the residents.

A resident of Amrit Park, Abdul Kareem Road, Masood Amin, said the people were dumping garbage outside his house and the LWMC workers had not been visiting the area for several weeks.

“I am paying the private people to get the garbage lifted,” he regretted.

Mahin, a university student residing in Old Anarkali, lamented that it seemed the LWMC had been turning a blind eye to the skips brimming with stinking garbage on a main road in the area.

An official, on condition of anonymity, said the LWMC was already short of machinery and some of the machines were also out of order.

He admitted that because of the dysfunctional machinery some of the city areas were being neglected by the company where its staff visits after a few days.

However, LWMC Managing Director Rafia Haider claimed the company was lifting the garbage on a daily basis from the entire city and “no area was being neglected”.

She also claimed that the public complaints were being addressed within six to 12 hours.

She, however, confirmed that a number of garbage lifting vehicles were out of order and the company had placed order for procurement of new fleet that would be available in December.

She said the company would be getting over 900 new dumpers, mechanical sweepers and related equipment that would help in quick collection of garbage and its transfer and disposal on a daily basis.

CHIEF SECRETARY: Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal has directed the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) authorities to work out an effective strategy to resolve cleanliness-related problems in the city on a permanent basis.

He was presiding over a meeting at the Civil Secretariat here on Tuesday to review the sanitation arrangements in the provincial metropolis and the LWMC working.

Mr Afzal said the work of collecting and disposing of garbage in the city should be further expedited and timely response to the complaints about sanitation should be ensured.

He said providing a clean environment to the citizens was a priority for the government and the solid waste management companies and related agencies should not spare any effort in keeping the cities clean.

The chief secretary also ordered speeding up the work on the waste-to-energy project at Lakho Dair landfill site.

The local government secretary, LWMC chief executive officer, Lahore additional commissioner and other officers concerned attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2021