The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday notified the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government regarding a six-week deadline to clear garbage from railways tracks and its surrounding lands in Karachi while directing Pakistan Railways division superintendent and Clifton Cantonment Board chief executive officer (CEO) to ensure that the area remains unpolluted after the clean up.
At the end of the six weeks, the two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Mahmood A Khan has sought reports from the respondents regarding the removal of garbage from their respective areas.
According to the details, the decision came following a civil petition filed by environmentalist Abdul Hamid Dagia who had highlighted the environmental and health hazards caused due to the huge piles of garbage near areas which were inhabited in the surroundings of railway tracks in the port city.
The petition lists that Federation of Pakistan through the chairman of the Ministry of Railways, Sindh government through its local government secretary, division superintendent of the Pakistan Railways, and CEOs of Karachi, Faisal and Clifton cantonment boards.
A total of Rs1.7 billion had been allocated to the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) for development expenditures in the 2018-19 fiscal year. In 2017-18 it was allotted Rs2.9 billion.
Although the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board Bill 2014 was passed by the Sindh Assembly in February 2014, the Karachiites are yet to see a functioning board.
“As much as 2,000 tons of organic waste is produced in Karachi every day,” said Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) Executive Director Asghar Mehmood at a seminar in April 2018.
