The dwellers of Bhara Kahu stressed the need for taking effective steps to ensure sanitation and cleanliness of the locality, causing certain diseases and environmental pollution, besides unhygienic conditions are badly affecting children who play at open places.
The heaps of garbage in the Bhara Kahu area speak about the sheer negligence of the administration towards keeping the city clean.
Talking to Pakistan Today, residents of Bhara Kahu said that heaps of garbage in the locality has made their lives miserable as garbage turns into breeding grounds for bacteria, viruses, flies and mosquitoes.
The administration of Islamabad does not have sufficient means to dispose of the garbage due to which piles of wastes can be seen at open areas of the locality.
They demanded of the district administration and Capital Development Authority (CDA) to take urgent and practical steps to ensure cleanliness in Jhuggi Mor, Bhara Pul, Simli Dam Road, Athal Chowk, Nai Abadi and Dhoke Jilani.
The people complained that their children often suffer from diarrhea because of the contaminated underground water as there are no filtration plants and proper sanitation system in the area.
Nazir, a shopkeeper, said that they are left with no option but to throw garbage into vacant plots and alongside roads because there is no dumping site or garbage collection system for the area.
He said that ill-planned and massive increase in population in the area is further complicating things for the authority.
He lamented that political leadership did nothing to resolve the problems faced by the general public.
Ali Shan, a senior citizen, said they are facing a lot of problems including poor sanitation, encroachments and traffic jams.
He said that they have raised the issue a number of times before the authorities concerned but to no avail.
They complained that the elected Member National Assembly from the area, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz paid little attention to the development of the area, as he only could be seen during election time.
A doctor at PIMS said that most of infectious diseases are caused owing to unhygienic environment and a large number of viral fever cases in the capital are reported from rural areas.
A senior official of district administration said that people in these areas dump the solid waste at improper places despite availability of dustbins, which is why huge piles of rubbish can be seen everywhere even in front of these dustbins, causing great problems for the sanitary workers. He said that it is a shared responsibility of all of us to keep the area clean.
However, an elderly resident of the locality, Shahid Abbasi, said that there is no waste management system in Bhara Kahu due to which heaps of garbage can be seen everywhere in the locality.
A senior official in CDA said that they are well-aware of the issue but they cannot address it owing to the lack of sufficient funds. However, he said the local government is responsible for the problem now, hoping the problem might be resolved.
Raja Wahid, a chairman from Bhara Kahu, said that the people of the locality would soon feel the difference as a lot of development works are going on.
He said that efforts are under way to hire the services of a Turkish firm Al Burqa which has been doing tremendous job in Rawalpindi since taking charge of waste disposal in the city.
Wahid vowed that the sewerage, garbage and health issues would be resolved on priority bases and they are going to arrange a grand gathering after Eid in this regard where Mayor Sheikh Ansar Aziz would be invited.
