ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani on Thursday took notice of the dumping of probably the entire solid waste of the capital city in the foothills of Margalla Hills and ordered the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to come up with a comprehensive waste management plan in two weeks.

On a suo motu, the chief justice directed the city managers to submit a proper long-term composite solid waste management plan with an emphasis on recycling. The plan should also elaborate the steps needed to reverse the damage already done to the site.The chief justice took the suo motu notice on a news item published in a section of the press captioned: “CDA turns scenic Margalla ugly.”

The CDA landfill site is situated between village Shah Allah Ditta and Sector D-12 but the ugly spot is hidden behind hillocks though the stench and smoke rising from the landfill attracts the attention of the passersby and the residents of nearby localities.

The news story also reported that a big CDA board on the road leading to the stinking smoking site warned the citizens against investing in any scheme in its “preserved forest area” of the Margalla Hills National Park. That indeed mocks at the CDA’s own illegal activity.

The chief justice ordered the CDA chairman to immediately hold meetings with the director general Environment Protection Agency, Asif Shuja, and submit the detailed plan to remove the dumping site and rectify the harm done to the land.

Ironically, the activity of dumping waste in the foothills of the Margalla has either escaped the attention of the CDA bosses or the latter are deliberately overlooking the dumping activity, especially in the presence of a directive issued by former Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to constitute a committee and conduct a survey to ensure no departure from the Margalla Hills Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1980. The ordinance declares the Margalla Hills and its surroundings as the national park area that is home to a large number of wildlife.

The order was passed on November 26, 2012, in the wake of the government’s ambitious project to carve out a tunnel in the Margalla Hills to link Islamabad with the Haripur district. The project was later shelved by the government.

In October 2005, the Supreme Court had taken notice and halted the construction activity of Islamabad Chalets Housing Scheme situated close to the Margalla Hills in the Haripur district.