By Noor Aftab
The wild grass and bushes along roads, streets and on open spaces have turned many residential sectors into ugly spots in the federal capital.
Different residential sectors, especially that fall in the ‘G’ series, have been infested with various kinds of wild bushes, grass and shrubs that are supposed to be removed by the concerned authorities on regular basis to maintain better look of inner streets and main roads, and also to check spread of various kinds of allergies caused by these wild growths.
“Whenever my relatives or other guests visit my flat first of all they talk about the wild bushes growing everywhere and even in front of our residential block. We have lodged complaints time and again with the concerned authorities but no one pays heed to our requests,” said Muhammad Sadiq who lives in a government flat in Sector G-9/1.
In these areas some of the owners themselves make arrangements to uproot such bushes outside their houses but this is not a common practice because most of them look towards the civic authorities who are entrusted with the task of ensuring cleanliness in the residential sectors.
The residents of the government flats in these sectors often stroll in the evening for a walk after dinner or to breathe fresh air after facing hot weather in their walled structures. Their children are also seen playing on the streets that are now fully covered with grass and bushes.
“Our children play all the time on streets covered with wild bushes and there is always a grave danger of snakes and other poisonous insects in the monsoon season. Now these bushes have grown up to three to four feet high and no one ever comes to cut them,” said Nafisa Sadiq, a resident of Sector G-10/3.
There is a common joke regarding residential sectors in Islamabad, which says that ‘E’ is for the elite, ‘F’ is for the first class citizens and ‘G’ is for general public. Although a jokes it still carries some weight when one minutely observes the level of civic facilities in these sectors.
The situation in Sector G-7 also shows apathy of the concerned authorities as waist-high grass and wild bushes, including hemp (bhung) are seen in many of its streets and open spaces. But the residents are averse to grass and bushes on sides of the streets that give an ugly look to their area.
“There was a time when CDA staff regularly used to visit and purge the area of the unwanted grass and bushes but now no one bothers. In some of the trails that are used frequently by pedestrians, the bushes have grown up to four to five feet high and one feels scared especially while walking through these trails in the evening time,” said Amir Hayat, a resident of Sector G-7/2.
CDA Director General (Environment) Salman Shaikh told ‘The News’ that the problem of wild bushes in the residential areas props up in this season but “we are aware of the situation and taking necessary steps to remove grass, bushes and shrubs from the streets.”
“Now I would issue fresh directives to our relevant directors to carry out a quick survey and take immediate measures to clean all the streets of bushes and grass especially in those residential sectors where this problem is badly affecting the residents,” he said.