Rotting waste from the sacrificial animals was seen polluting different areas of the city except the posh localities on Eid day. By noon, teams from Lahore Waste Management Company, Solid Waste Management and environment ministry rushed to the affected areas and cleared up the waste that included offal, intestines and others. Earlier, LWMC had made a publicity blitz to make people believe that this Eid would not be like previous eids and the company would make sure that the city remained clean, so much so that the sacrificial animals were not allowed inside the city. However contrary to its commitment, except some areas, sacrificial animals’ waste was seen lying especially around waste containers and enclosures leaving a bad image in the minds of people. Allama Iqbal Town, Sabzazar, Township, Dharampura, Umar Chowk, Qadri Chowk, Hamdard Chowk, Green Town Market, Gulshan Ravi, Ring Road (Bund Road), Outfall Road, Ichrah, Babey Azam Chowk, Shahbab Chowk, Rehman Pura were areas where uncovered piles of rotten garbage encouraged fly breeding, which play an important role in mechanical transmission of diseases like diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, rota virus, salmonellosis, shigellosis, entesic fever, typhoid, taratryphoid, polymyelities, hepatitis and ascariosis.
“The camps set up by the administration were empty all day and we were not given any shopping bags,” said Nazir Rana of Dharampura.
“City was divided into 25 zones, and one tractor loader and two tractor trolleys was rented for use in each zone during the holidays. A camp had been set up in the 150 union councils of the city and a control room had been established to monitor and coordinate operations for three days, as well as a helpline where citizens registered the complaints,” said an official of SWM.
LWMC MD Waseem Ajmal said that more than 10,000 cleaners and 246 dumpers continued working round the clock to transport waste of animals to landfill sites.
LWMC official told Pakistan Today that company had arranged more than 500,000 special plastic bags which distributed to all citizens. Despite special requests, people did not pack animal offal and other remains in these bags and threw them in garbage containers or did not wait to hand them to sanitary workers, he added. “It was the biggest challenge in terms of keeping the city clean,” he said. “We made the best arrangements we could do for Eid,” he claimed.
