DMC chiefs call for magisterial powers to deal with garbage burning cases

The heads of District Municipal Corporations (DMCs) have hailed the Sindh environment minister’s announcement that action would be taken against garbage burning but have claimed that this was not possible without giving magisterial powers to all six DMC chairmen.

Speaking to The News on Friday, DMC East Chairman Moid Anwar and DMC Central Chairman Rehan Hashmi said garbage burning is a menace and is making the city highly polluted. They said trash is usually burned early in the morning and there was no mechanism to stop it as sanitary staffers were among the people who do it.

They further said that although the environment minister said that police and DMC chairmen can apprehend such people, but it was essential for DMC heads to have magisterial powers to be able to fully implement the ban on garbage burning. On Thursday, the provincial government had assured the DMCs and other civic bodies of its full support in their action against elements responsible for burning waste in residential areas.

Representatives of DMCs, cantonment boards and various municipal agencies held a meeting with Sindh Environment Minister Mohammad Taimur Talpur to discuss the issue of dumping and incineration of waste in and near residential localities causing health and environmental problems.

The civic bodies’ representatives told the minister that without the support of police and other government departments, they could not decisively act against those who dumped garbage in residential areas and set it afire. The minister assured them that the police and relevant departments of the provincial government would fully support them in this regard.

Talpur vowed that he would talk to senior officials of the police and district administration in the city so that a joint action could be initiated against burning of garbage in the open. He also asked all the civic agencies in the city to appoint a focal person in this regard.

It is a responsibility of the municipal agencies in the city to check and prevent the instances of dumping and burning of garbage, especially at night. Talpur also appealed to the residents of the city to send complaints about the incidents of burning of municipal waste to the environment department so that stern action could be taken against the culprits, including imposing heavy fines on them.

Environment Secretary Laeeq Ahmed said the department would launch a campaign soon to raise awareness about environmental degradation and its effects on health. No representative of the KMC attended the meeting which prompted the minister to direct the environment secretary to seek an explanation from the KMC metropolitan commissioner. The meeting also considered other viable means and mechanisms to combat the menace of environmental degradation in Karachi. According to met office officials and doctors, the burning of garbage was causing deadly diseases among citizens.