Littering in the federal capital is a crime under clause 5[29] of Capital Development Authority (CDA) Environment Protection Regulations 2008 and violators can be fined from Rs 50 to Rs 300 on the spot, Director Sanitation Captain Faiz Mohammad said on Monday.
Talking to APP, he said the Sanitation Directorate of the CDA had been carrying out an awareness campaign to make Islamabad ‘litter free’ for the last five months and issued over 3000 notices to the residents on wastage of water and throwing litter on streets, roads and recreational spots.
Now, the authority is heading towards imposing fine on littering for making citizens more responsible and ensuring cleanliness in their surroundings, the director said. “Over 3000 bins have already placed in the city, however, 300 more bins and garbage trolleys will be placed soon under the campaign,” he added. Captain Faiz said the CDA’s Sanitation Directorate, on the directives of CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi, was devising a mechanism for imposing fine with the help of enforcement division and arranging training of the staff members for the purpose.
He said, “Under the campaign to maintain beauty and preserve green character of the city, awareness camps and rallies are being arranged urging citizens to clean all streets, roads, green belts, business centres and recreational spots of the city.”
The director said the sanitary helpline ‘1334’ was working round the clock and receiving thousands of complaints regarding sanitary issues every month.
The helpline receives four types of complaints regarding wastage of water, garbage collection, sewerage system and wall chalking.
He said one instructor and five supervisors, one each for sub-sectors and one for centre, had been deployed in every sector for looking after the sanitary issues. He said all the complaints were being addressed with a quick response through wireless system while the record of addressed complaints was also maintained in properly.
Giving details of the campaign, Captain Faiz said the CDA Sanitation Directorate had issued several reminders to residents to keep dustbins at homes for garbage instead of throwing it outside their homes or hand over it to the sanitary workers or throw it in the garbage bins.
He said shopkeepers should clean their shops at night and put garbage bags outside their shop or throw waste material at CDA’s specified sites. The citizens must make sure that their home’s sewerage and drainage pipeline was linked with CDA’s main line and avoid wasting water in streets and roads and use buckets for car wash instead of pipe.
He said wall chalking was also an offence in the city and people should avoid pasting posters and advertisements on walls.
