Liaquatabad waste

Waste management accounts for almost 15 percent of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s operational budgets. Despite these high expenses, only 30 percent of waste generated in the city is being collected by the waste disposable squad of the KMC. In some areas this percentage is dangerously low – around 10 percent. Liaquatabad is one such area. Sometimes the delay in collecting garbage stretches up to three days.
With less than 20 percent refuse collection rates, residents of the area are left with little choice other than to dump their garbage in nearby vacant plots, public spaces, along the roads, etc. Moreover, uncollected solid waste has clogged flood drains in the area causing sewage to overflow and flooding during rainy reasons. The result is that the entire area has turned into toxic landfills. Uncollected garbage is providing breeding grounds for insects, vermin and stray dogs, which spread diseases including plague, dengue fever and diarrhea. With the local bodies elections coming to an end one can hope for better days ahead.
Yusra Rizvi
Karachi