RAWALPINDI: Once known as the cleanest cantonment in British India, Rawalpindi’s cantonment areas are a sorry sight today.

Misrial Road, Siham, Allahabad, Peshawar Road, Gawalmandi, Chungi No. 22, Afshan Colony, Dhoke Chaudhrian, Tench Bhatta, Barafkhanna Chowk, Chak Madad Khan and Chur Chowk are some of the areas where one can see heaps of garbage but they have somehow been missed by the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB).

However when it comes to army areas, the level of cleanliness is par excellence. Right from GHQ Chowk on The Mall to Radio Pakistan, the RCB ensures that garbage is collected on daily basis. Mechanical sweepers are used twice a day. But areas having a population from the low income group are continuously being ignored.

While driving from Saddar to Gawalmandi, heaps of garbage can be seen on Nogaza Road along Railway Track on the backside of Military Accounts Office. The heaps covered the road and left six feet for the general traffic.

RCB has been paying no heed to localities not inhabited by army personnel

The piles of garbage give such a foul smell that the people could not pass the area without covering their nose.

The residents of the area are fed up with the apathy of the civic body and demand local bodies elections so that their voice could be heard.

The residents of cantonment complained that the sanitary workers did not collect waste from their homes, as a result mounds of heaps are seen on the road.

They said the truck for collecting garbage came once after two days.

“Rawalpindi used to be cleanest cantonment in British India and it was even after the partition till 80’s but the things have started changing now,” said Abdul Razzaq Khan, a resident of Chur Chowk.

He said that the local government system should be introduced in the cantonment areas so that the civic issues could be solved without any hurdle.

Yasir Khan, a resident of Misrial Road Street No. 9, said that it was very difficult to walk on the main road and streets due to stinking smell emanating from the heaps of garbage.

He said that the local people had registered complaints many a time which went unnoticed.

Imran Raja, a resident of Gawalmandi, said that the mounds of refuse provided breeding grounds to mosquitoes that was why the majority of dengue fever patients had come from this area.

When contacted, RCB Cantonment Executive Officer Fahim Zafar Khan said the civic body had introduced a new system to make the cantonment areas neat and clean.

He said the pilot project had been launched in Westridge and some other areas and it would soon be introduced in other localities.

Replying to a question, he said heaps of garbage on Nogaza Road developed in the past two months and assured that they would be removed within two days.

He said the RCB had formed the committee to find a landfill site outside the cantonment areas to dunp the waste properly.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2014