RAWALPINDI: Heaps of garbage and stench from choked drains have become the hallmark of the garrison city thanks to the apathy of the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR).

The streets and roads present the look of a landfill. Establishing the Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) for collecting garbage from roadsides and streets and increasing the sanitation budget from Rs500 million to Rs1 billion per year, the provincial government had promised to give a new look to the city.

However, one can see heaps of garbage on the main roads in Raja Bazaar, Satellite Town, Sadiqabad and other areas.

The construction work on the metro bus elevated track on Murree Road led to the accumulation of construction materials on the busy artery but the local administration did not bother to clear it either.

The RWMC mainly focused on the cleanliness of a few union councils where the ruling party leaders live and around the residences of the district coordination officer (DCO) and the city police officer (CPO) at Rashid Minhas Road.

A senior official of CDGR told Dawn that five mechanical sweepers remained idle for the last one year. He said the mechanical sweepers were used to clean Murree Road at night but after the start of the construction work on the metro bus track, the RWMC did not use the machinery to clean other roads except Rashid Minhas Road.

“The Punjab Environment Protection Agency (Punjab-EPA) also asked RWMC and CDGR to dump the garbage in the landfill site instead of Leh Nullah and on the banks of Soan River but no action has been taken in this regard,” he said.

The residents complained about the heaps of garbage and foul smell emitting from the choked drains and nullahs and demanded the government resolve the problem.

“Maintaining cleanliness in the city is the responsibility of the civic body. In the 70s and 80s, the main roads such as City Saddar Road and Raja Bazaar were daily washed,” said Sheikh Naseem, 64, a resident of Raja Bazaar.

He said in the past the residents registered a complaint with the defunct Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation and the Solid Waste Management. However, under the new system, most of the people do not even know with whom they should register a complaint about the heaps of garbage in their localities.

Faisal Raza, a resident of Kashmiri Bazaar, said the sanitation workers dumped the solid waste on the roadsides and lifted it after two days. “One can see heaps of garbage on the road in front of the Novelty Cinema which has reduced the length of the artery,” he said.

Shamsuddin, a resident of Saidpur Road, said the residents mostly hired private sanitary workers to lift the garbage and clean the road.

“It is the responsibility of the civic body to ensure cleanliness but it collected taxes and in return did nothing to clean the city.”

When contacted, former district nazim Raja Tariq Kiyani said cleanliness was the basic work of civic bodies.

“The government presented a rosy picture while outsourcing the sanitation work to a Turkish company. However, after the passage of one year, the situation has not changed,” he added.

PML-N former MNA Malik Shakil Awan, who is a member of the board of directors of the RWMC, admitted that the condition of sanitation had deteriorated.

“The sanitary workers were even not provided brooms and equipment to open drains. They are helpless in this situation. The company officials informed the board of directors that the containers for garbage would be installed on the roads after the inauguration of the metro bus service,” he said.

Published in Dawn March 20th, 2015

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