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Thursday March 28, 2024

Historical Mochi Gate ground turned into waste dumping place

By Ali Raza
January 22, 2018

LAHORE : The historical ground of Mochi Gate has turned into a waste dumping ground as Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) has failed to lift the heaps of construction waste from both inside and outside the ground for the past several days.

One can witness huge heaps of waste comprising mixture of mud, construction leftover and municipal waste just outside the boundary wall of Mochi Gate ground on Circular Road. The waste, which was accumulated at the spot during the past several days have also become a top hindrance in flow of traffic.

Recently, former president Asif Ali Zardari announced holding a public rally at the Mochi Gate ground on the Kashmir Day on February 5, 2018 and this waste, if not lifted, may become a serious security threat. One can also witness similar kind of waste dumped unattended at the back of Punjab Assembly building.

Senior Manager of LWMC Sohail Malik said lifting C&D waste is the responsibility of Walled City Lahore Authority (WCLA) or Ravi Town administration.

Citizens questioned that if lifting of construction waste is not the responsibility of LWMC, then who will lift this kind of waste from the city. In-time clearance of waste from city roads has become a common man’s dream despite the fact that the Punjab government is spending over Rs13 billion annually to achieve the goal of Clean Lahore, top slogan of LWMC.

Presence of such heaps of waste on main roads of the city clearly reflects the performance of LWMC and Metropolitan Corporation Lahore (MCL). Citizens demanded the chief minister to take immediate action over this negligence and punish the responsible.

Environmentalists said unattended construction waste is very dangerous for citizens as it spreads in the area with air resulting in increased air pollution.

They said such waste mixed with municipal waste is more dangerous as it pollutes atmosphere as a whole. They said LWMC was established to dispose of all kind of waste from the city in a scientific manner but it is not doing so and such waste is dumped on roads and empty plots.

Cleaning of this area is the responsibility of LWMC’s ’s Turkish contractor Albayrak but unfortunately it also failed to lift this waste.

When contacted, Albayrak’s spokesman said the company is not allowed to lift C&D and animal waste. The company can lift such kind of waste on special instructions.

“We have placed special containers for C&D waste in the area and all waste dumped in these containers was lifted regularly,” said Sohail Malik, Senior Manager LWMC while talking with The News. Acknowledging the presence of waste dumped outside Mochi Gate, he said the enforcement team of LWMC has failed to identify those who dumped this waste on Circular Road. He added that the issue was also taken up with TMA Ravi Town because lifting this waste is their responsibility.

The scribe also tried to contact LWMC Managing Director but he didn’t give any version regarding the issue till filing of this report.