ISLAMABAD: Residents of I-9 sector have strongly opposed the Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) move to set up a waste transfer station in their sector.

The civic body is all set to wind up the existing landfill site in I-12 and shift waste to Chakbeli area of Rawalpindi in a few days. However, before transporting the garbage to the landfill site in Chakbeli, the civic agency has set up two transfer stations - one near Sihala along the expressway and the other in I-9 adjacent to the sewage treatment plant (STP).

This move has not been welcomed by the residents who say it violated environmental laws.

“We are opposing this move; this dumping point and transfer station is against environmental laws; we will stage a protest and also file a petition with the Islamabad High Court (IHC),” said former union council chairman Sardar Mahtab.

He said there were over 800 houses in I-9/1 and once the transfer station was established there, people may end with various ailments.

Residents warn of knocking IHC’s doors; CDA official says SOPs to be followed while transferring garbage

“We will file an application with the CDA chairman on Monday (today), requesting him to withdraw the decision and in the next two days, we are going to file a petition with the IHC,” he said.

Mr Mahtab said regardless of political affiliations, residents of the sub-sector were united to force the CDA to reverse the ill-planned decision.

Malik Imran, a resident of the sector, said it was strange that the CDA was making waste transfer stations in a residential sector.

Another resident, Naveed Anjum, said I-9 was a residential-cum-industrial sector and people living there were already battling pollution due to the industrial units in I-19 and I-10. The STP, which is a permanent source of foul smell, is also operating in I-9/1 and therefore, the transfer station should not be set up here.

When contacted, CDA’s Director General Civic Management Shahjahan Khan said the transfer station would just be a transfer point; in fact more of a parking lot.

“We will ensure that garbage is shifted from the small vehicle to a bigger one within 15 minutes while observing strict standard operating procedures (SOPs),” Mr Khan said, adding that it was a temporary arrangement, and when the CDA sets up a landfill site on modern lines, the transfer station would be shut down.

Asked about the concerns of the residents, the CDA officer said he had met some of them, including the former UC chairman, and informed them that there would be no environmental harm from the transfer station.

The IHC had recently directed the CDA to ensure that “no waste is dumped in temporary sites in residential areas in Islamabad with effect from 04-10-2022.”

Following this direction, the civic body decided to shut down the I-12 dumping site.

“Hopefully, in the next two days, we will start shifting waste to Chakbeli area,” the director general said.

The CDA, which was set up in 1960, has so far failed to establish a scientific landfill site.

As per the IHC order passed by Justice Babar Sattar last month, the civic body cannot dump waste in temporary sites in residential areas.

The CDA has also been continuously receiving criticism from residents for questionably reversing its decision in 2011 of setting up a permanent landfill in Kuri - a site which was finalised by an international consultant and for which the authority had constructed a road. However, the CDA and the environment body in 2011 decided not to establish the landfill site in Kuri.

Some officials had alleged that the CDA changed its decision at the behest of housing societies. Since then the civic agency has been shifting the dumping site from one place to the other.

A few years ago, the CDA had proposed a site in Sangjani in ditches created by stone crushers, but the environment body did not allow it. People of the adjoining areas had also opposed the project.

Later, the CDA proposed a site in the institutional sector of H-16 but the idea had to be dropped as well because of litigation.

Shahjahan Khan said arrangements in Chakbeli were a temporary one as under the IHC orders “we cannot dump garbage in I-12 and other residential areas after October 4, 2022.”

For a long-term solution, the CDA is working with the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on setting up a joint site near Mandra.

“We are also exploring other options,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2022