Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The performance and efficiency of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) can be gauged from the inaction of its Sanitation Directorate which did not remove the uprooted trees lying on different city roads caused by recent thunderstorms in the ongoing monsoon season.

“The fallen trees are still lying on the roads even after several weeks, which not only gives an ugly look to the capital city but is also a potential threat for road accidents any time,” Salman Ahmed, a resident said.

“I have seen a number of trees that have fallen after the recent storms in Sector G-8 alonside the foothpaths which give a deserted look and which have not been removed for the last 15 days”.

He said presence of such trees spoke about the seriousness of the Authority towards the cleanliness of the city.

A housewife, Sana Khan, said: “A number of trees had fallen in the thunderstorms but the civic body, which is responsible to remove them promptly, has not bothered to clear the mess.”

“During the recent rains, trees had fallen in Sectors G-7,G-8, G-9, F-6 and along the foothpaths of different roads including those near Tipu Market. In addition, some trees in these areas had been bent and may fall anytime,” she added.

When contacted, an official of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) said: “Teams have been deployed at various sectors to remove the trash. We try to provide support to the trees which were bent by storms or rains.”

Capital residents demand desilting of nullahs: Residents of various sectors of the capital on Wednesday asked the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to take measures for the cleanliness of nullahs passing through their localities. At least one nullah is flowing from almost every sector of Islamabad. However, immediate attention of the civic body is needed to clean these and ward off any untoward incident, as well saving the citizens from several health dangers.

Ali Hassan, a resident of Sector G-7 said nullahs located at Sector G-9 and G-11 were filled with dirty water and mud.

He said that the civic body had not desilted these nullahs for many years. When contacted, a CDA official said that the Sanitation Directorate had started the work on cleanliness of nullahs by lifting garbage from them.

He said teams of the Sanitation Directorate comprising nullah coolies would carry out the cleanliness work and lifting of garbage from different nullahs on a war footing.

The official informed that the Sanitation Directorate was taking effective steps for cleanliness of nullahs in a well planned manner as the sewerage lines were causing bad odour whereas throwing of plastic bags and other solid waste resulted in the blockage of the smooth flow of the nullah water.

He said if the cleanliness of these nullahs be carried out on regular basis, the garbage and bad odour could be controlled and it would also prevent diseases besides breeding of mosquitoes and other insects.

Anti-encroachment drive accelerated: The CDA Enforcement Directorate has accelerated operations against encroachments and illegal constructions in the federal capital.

In this connection, many illegal constructions and encroachments were removed from car showrooms in G-8 Markaz.

During a recent operation, the Enforcement Directorate conducted an operation against encroachers and land grabbers. The Deputy Director Enforcement Directorate, Muhammad Iqbal Tanoli, said that teams had removed vehicles from outside the showrooms located at G-8 Markaz. He said that some elements had showed resistance during the operation but the Authority successfully removed all encroachments.

He said that the teams of the Enforcement Directorate also confiscated three trucks of encroachment material. The teams also conducted another operation along the IG Principal Road near Sector I-11 and demolished one buffalo shed and six rooms constructed illegally on state land.

During another operation one illegally constructed buffalo shed in village Sorain in Sector I-11/2 was also razed and three kanals of CDA land were vacated of illegal occupants.