CDA to establish landfill in Rawalpindi

Islamabad : Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan Wednesday said the Capital Development Authority (CDA) was in process for signing of MoU with Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) for establishment of landfill site in district Rawalpindi for disposal of garbage.

During question hour in the Senate, the minister said that for the purpose, some 400 Kanals would be allocated for permanent solution of garbage of the federal capital. The Directorate of Sanitation, CDA was providing sanitation services in the municipal limits of Islamabad like Zone-I as the Zone consisted of residential sectors, commercial areas etc., he added.

He said the Sanitation Directorate has also extended its services for secondary collection of garbage from rural areas of Islamabad by using/stretching available resources.

The minister said the volume of solid waste generated within the municipal limits of Islamabad ranges between 550 to 600 metric tons per day. The waste generated was mixed type of solid waste and includes municipal/kitchen/gr­een/domestic waste, commercial, building material and other scrap, he added.

To resolve this long outstanding issue, the CDA has decided to dispose of the entire garbage at Waste Containment Site located in Sector I-12, Islamabad.

A site measuring 600’’ x 1200’’ - 132 Kanals in Sector H-16/3 has been allocated for temporary sanitary landfill site.

Ali Muhammad said that the CDA was taking substantial steps for recycling solid waste in Islamabad and one thousand garbage trolleys and two hundred skips have been placed in different areas for waste collection in the capital city.

He said currently 1,500 employees were working for cleanliness and over nine hundred persons would be recruited soon. He said traffic police in Islamabad was taking strict measures against the violators and the safe city cameras were also active in this regard and E-Challans are issued to violators.

Responding to a question on Naya Pakistan Housing Programme (NPHP), the minister said the program was launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan in October 2018 and a total of 2,003,940 applications have already been received in two phases.

The minister said the applications were scanned and digitized using data entry operators and franchise networks while the NADRA charged Rs250 per application. Of which Rs50 was allocated to advertisement/infor­mation campaigns, on NAPHDA’s directions.

The minister in order to cope with the issues related to unhygienic injections being injected to cows and buffaloes, Livestock and Dairy Development Department was running awareness campaign targeting dairy farmers so as to aware them about the side effects of the Oxytocin whose residual parts in some extent come in the milk in small ratio causing some un-wanted effects like abortion in women and early onset of puberty.

He said the steps have been taken by the Islamabad Administration to make sure that milk being sold in Islamabad was free from adulteration/contamination.

Assistant commissioners and food inspectors in ICT were regularly visiting respective areas to keep vigilance. The minister said the Establishment of ICT Food Authority is under process.

Special campaign again­st unhygienic milk started by Deputy Commissioner, ICT and 28,650 litres of milk have so far been discarded.