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KARACHI, Feb 25: City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal has asked town and union councils’ administrations to create awareness of hazards involved in the improper disposal of plastic bags by educating residents of their respective areas.
Speaking at a gathering of residents from UC 10, 11 and 12 of Jamshed Town on Sunday, he said people should voluntarily give up the use of the polythene bags already declared unsuitable. This, he said, would help avoid action against the manufactures and traders of the prohibited category of shopping bags.
“The government wants citizens to be fully aware of the ban and the purpose of its imposition before going ahead with the action,” he added.
He told people that plastic bags were not only responsible for the increasing pollution in the city, but were also a cause of the spread of various diseases.
He pointed out that millions of rupees were being spent in the laying and mending the sewerage lines and storm-water drains across the city, but the money and energy might go waste if the huge quantity of used plastic bags in the shape of solid waste was not stopped from clogging these conduits and channels after getting in with the flowing water and sewage.
“There is no point in suffering a big loss for a small benefit,” he remarked, and told people to opt for alternatives like paper bags and cloth bags.
He said that an Act had been enforced to effectively check the use of banned plastic bags, adding that action could be initiated against the manufactures and sellers of such bags when they did not stop from indulging in such a business. “The Act prescribes four-year term and/or heavy fines for its violators,” he said.
However, the city nazim made it clear, the government preferred to achieve the goal with the cooperation of citizens without taking action under this Act.
He suggested that the town and union councils’ administrations should approach retailers individually to convince them not to use or sell the banned category of shopping bags.
DEVELOPMENT WORK: The city nazim visited sites of various development projects on Sunday and asked the officials of Works and Services Department to accelerate the pace of work on all under-construction roads, especially Shahrah-i-Pakistan and 5000 Road in Surjani. In this context, he told them to ensure that the work was carried out in three shifts.
A statement issued from the nazim’s secretariat, said the nazim observed that though some delay was caused in the shifting of underground lines of utility services and laying of storm-water drains, the projects were now at the stage of their completion.
He also directed the officials concerned to connect the newly-laid drainage lines with the main storm-water drain.
During his visit to the site of sewerage scheme in Garden, Mr Kamal told the water board officials present there to ensure completion of work as soon as possible so that the roads closed to facilitate the work could be reopened.
Later, he visited Bagh Ibn-i-Qasim to review the pace of ongoing development work there.
