Daily Times

Islamabad is a very well worked-out city with special consideration for environment and cleanliness. Gradually, though, this city has degenerated into a pack of slums at the cost of its beauty. After a long time, the government has taken an initiative to make it clean and green again. Environment Minister Zartaj Gul Wazir deserves credit for launching this initiative. This is not an easy job. More than anything, it is about changing the lifestyle of the residents of Islamabad. Flooded with uncalled-for controversies is social media on how to purge this city of the menace of plastic bags. These bags are a major cause of making the federal capital unclean and ungreen. They never degenerate, cause cancers, chock drains, damage the soil, result in human and animal deaths and pollute water and air.

In developed countries, cities have got rid of them and life is healthier. However, the problem is public awareness about the issue and changing people’s lifestyles. From a fruit vendor to an upscale super store, everybody uses plastic bags with impunity. Now that the administration is implementing the ban on plastic bags, it is facing an outcry from different quarters of society, though the saner segments are with them. The situation turned awkward when the managers of a busy food outlet resorted to pushing and shoving the staff of Pak-EPA, who were there to make sure that plastic bags were not used.

Thankfully, the city has a deputy commissioner like Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat, who is committed to his job of making people abide by the law in the most trouble-free manner. He is young and full of energy, which makes him stand out among an army of lethargic babus. His convincing skills and profound knowledge of the city and its people have given him an edge over others in ironing out the flaws in implementation of law. Now is the time for citizens of Islamabad to own the city and make the efforts of the environment minister and the deputy commissioner a success. If they are able to present the federal capital as a model, other cities and towns of the country will also fall in line and we all will have a healthier country to live in. *