Sanitation in Rawalpindi neglected

Sanitation is in a state of neglect in many parts of the city. The condition of sanitation in several areas is no better. Employees of Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) who have allegedly been allotted sanitation work for the city, do not lift garbage properly and regularly.

RWMC signed a contract with M/s Albayrak, a Turkish Company in the Waste Management Business, to clean Rawalpindi. But its performance is witness of the fact that they have not addressed citizens’ problems more effectively and systematically.

“Sweeping of streets in residential areas like Fazal Town Phase-I, Faisal Colony, Tajabad, Shah Khalid Colony is not being done on a regular basis. The RWMC sweepers are seen standing in the streets gossiping and start sweeping the streets at their whim,” says Mateen Haider.

“The sweepers do not lift waste sacks put by citizens in front of their doors. The garbage bins placed at different points of the streets keep overflowing. The garbage-collecting RWMC vehicles never empty them the way they should be and the garbage lying on the ground is never picked up,” says Asim Ali.

Safdar Hussain says: “The population growth results in overcrowding, exacerbating sanitation issues. The urban poor live illegally in areas deemed unfit for habitation. Without permission to live on the land, they have no access to government support for sanitation or health care programs. These conditions do not only affect the people who live in them; their effects influence the rest of the city as well.”

“Many people living in poor areas are not able to maintain a proper level of domestic hygiene. Hand washing is difficult in houses or shelters without running water, and safe food preparation and storage is often impossible to achieve in urban slums, where there is often limited running water and sewage systems, and garbage collection is rare,” says Ghulam Abbas.

Turab Ali says: “In urban areas, typically less than half of all solid garbage waste is collected, and low-income neighborhoods have the least access to that service. This affects the immediate surrounding areas; waste accumulates in the streets. These practices have environmental ramifications as well.”

“The secret behind the mystery of the cleaner cities is the discipline that is installed in the minds of the people from an early age that helps maintain cleanliness in a city.

While signs like “Do not litter” may be there in many public places yet this has not become the clarion call of

our leaders. So campaign against ‘dirtying’ should be run more efficiently,” says Komal Rizvi.

“The focus should not be on the cleaning up of an already dirty space but in the prevention of any public spot from becoming dirty,” adds Komal.