Daily Times

By Amar Guriro

KARACHI: The burning of municipal garbage in the port city is posing serious environmental threats to the country’s economic hub.

The garbage can been seen piling up everywhere in the city at empty plots, public parks, public and private schools, shopping malls, open spaces, slums, police stations, government offices, and even on the city’s beach.

Sadly, no government authority is ready to collect the garbage and it is piling up with every passing day. And when the heaps of garbage reach to a certain limit people set the garbage on fire.

This quick solution unleashes thick clouds of smoke over the entire locality and such scenes can be seen almost in every locality of the city these days.

During the visit of different areas on Saturday, Daily Times witnessed burning of garbage in nearby areas of Shahrah-e-Pakistan, Karimabad Bridge, Asghar Ali Shah Stadium and different localities of Saddar town.

Also, whatever garbage KMC collects is not dumped properly at any dumping site instead they are thrown on the city’s beaches.

The recently appointed Sindh chief minister Murad Ali Shah made tall claims right after taking his charge that he would ensure cleanness in the city within no time.

He did many media stunts and sometimes he came out of his vehicle in the open and warned the officials concerned to immediately remove the garbage from the city.

But, nothing substantial has been done by the CM so far in this regard. According to official data of KMC, the city produces 12,000 tonnes of municipal waste every day and there is not a single functional scientific dumping site anywhere in the city.

The provincial government recently established Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) to deal with these issues as Karachi would be generating 16,000 tonnes of garbage daily by 2020. But SSWMB has done nothing yet.

Environmentalists are worried about this new situation and they warned that if burning of garbage is not stopped in the city, it would harbinger another disaster in the metropolis in near future.

Renowned ecologist and ?Natural Resources Management Coordinator at International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Pakistan Nadeem Mirbahar said that burning of garbage have accelerated the rate of the air pollution in the city.

“Due to lack of proper public transpiration, old buses, smoke emitting vehicles, and massive tree cutting are already contributing in the rise of air pollution in Karachi. And this new trend of setting garbage on fire would seriously aggravate the situation,” he added.

Health experts also expressed grave concerns over inappropriate disposal of garbage across Karachi and burning effluent at public places. Dr. Seemin Jamali, joint executive director, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), said that burning of garbage has carcinogenic impacts, which can cause cancer.

“Smoke from the garbage burning can cause different diseases such as respiratory tract, nasal allergy, nasal septum, various ENT infections, asthma, skin, eye and lung diseases,” she told Daily Times.

But despite clear warnings by the environmentalists and health experts, the authorities concerned are still indifferent towards this issue. Senior Director Municipal Services of (KMC) Masood Alam is responsible for the garbage collection in Karachi.

He told Daily Times that KMC is not capable to take the garbage or to stop citizens from burning the garbage. “The media should ask Chief Minister Sindh what happened to his claims that within no time he would ensure the cleanness of the city,” said Alam.