KARACHI, March 1: Garbage dumping sites in certain localities of the city are not only one of the major cause of environmental degradation but also posing serious threat to public health.

A big number of patients belonging to Gadap and Keamari towns appeared to have taken ill due to the unhygienic conditions created by heaps of garbage and waste in their localities. They are suffering from diarrhoea, and infections of skin, eye and chest.

These two towns are among several others either without or inadequate health facilities. This compels the affected people to avail health facilities in other towns considerable far away from their localities.

The 18 towns of the city generate more than 7,000 tonnes of garbage every day. Due to the dumping of such a huge quantity of garbage at different sites and improperly disposed of hazardous material, environment around the dumping sites gets heavily polluted.

Some the badly affected areas are Raeesabad, Noor Muhammad Goth, Parya Goth, Waroo Goth, Nabi Dad Goth, Ummar Goth, Sheeda Goth, Khawasthi Goth, Maling Goth, Abdullah Goth, Dildar Goth, Haji Chatha Goth, Haji Hussain Goth, Haji Shaikh Goth, Wadera Mohammad Khan Goth where even air pollution may easily be felt. The neighbouring villages would not also escape the effects.

A councillor of Keamari Town, requesting anonymity, revealed that the city government was aware of this problem faced by the people of the town but despite repeated complaints, no action had been taken as yet. He said that the municipal administrations had constantly been carrying out the dumping over many years.

He recalled that under an agreement between the now defunct KMC and elders of the area, the corporation had promised to establish a recycling facility at a specific place in the town in order to ensure proper disposal of garbage and a clean environment.

As per the plan, he added, the small plant was established in a building constructed for the same purpose. However, the machinery brought in later, got rusted as the plant remained non-functional ever since its establishment, he regretted.

The councillor complained that the people of his town were being discriminated upon, and questioned the right of other towns to dump their waste in villages of his town.

Backward localities of certain towns are still without basic facilities despite introduction of devolution plan and constant reminders to the CDGK for its attention to the people's essential requirements, the councillor pointed out.

Interviews with families affected by the unhygienic conditions showed that the villagers have not only to suffer due to the dumping but they also have to bear heavy expenditure of medical treatment and transportation if any of the family members takes ill. Many of them said that they were so poor to afford the treatment. - PPI