LG minister orders inquiry against SSWMB over offal-related complaints

Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has announced the constitution of an inquiry committee to investigate the conduct of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) over various complaints against it regarding its failure to dispose of the offal of sacrificial animals in various parts of the city during Eidul Azha.

The local government minister decided to constitute the inquiry committee while chairing a meeting at his office on Friday. The proposed committee would work under the local government secretary. It has been given seven days to complete the inquiry and submit a report to the minister on the functioning of the SSWMB. SSWMB Managing Director AD Sanjani informed Shah that approximately 1,200,000 tons of waste of sacrificial animals was disposed of in Karachi during Eidul Azha. He said the waste disposal operation continued in the city till Thursday that was the fourth day of Eid.

Sanjani claimed that special arrangements had been made for the proper disposal of the sacrificial animals’ offal at the landfill sites of Jam Chakro, Gond Pass, and Sharafi Goth in Karachi. He added that 2,567 tons of animal waste were disposed of at the landfill site of Jam Chakro on the first day of Eidul Azha, and 6,639 tons, 4,323 tons and 1697 tons on the second, third and fourth day of Eid respectively.

At the landfill site of Gond Pass, 4,920 tons of animal remains were disposed of on the first day of Eid, whereas, 8,078 tons, 7,347 tons and 2,607 tons were disposed of on the second, third and fourth day respectively. At the landfill site of Sharafi Goth, 6,237 tons of animal waste was disposed of on the first day, Sanjani said.

The SSWMB chief informed the meeting that Karachi generated 12,000 to 13,000 tons of municipal waste on a daily basis. He said the waste management board had been responsible for lifting municipal waste from District East, District South and District Malir and was partially responsible for the job in District West.

According to Sanjani, District Korangi and District Central had so far not signed an agreement with the SSWMB for the disposal of municipal waste but in spite of that, waste generated from the two districts was taken from the garbage transfer stations to the landfill sites on the instructions of the Sindh chief minister and the local government minister.

Shah said the top leadership of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party in Sindh and the chief minister were fully serious to resolve the issue of municipal waste disposal of Karachi as that was why they had personally took rounds of the city to inspect situation of the sanitation.

He also stressed that garbage being collected during the ongoing ‘Clean Karachi’ campaign being backed by the federal government should be properly disposed of at the designated landfills instead of leaving it at the garbage transfer stations or disposing of the same unsafely in Lyari and Malir rivers.

Energy production

In another meeting, Shah was informed that several private sector companies had shown interest in generating electricity through burning municipal waste of the city. The minister was informed that the volume of waste being generated in the city on a daily basis was capable enough to generate up to 250 megawatts (MW) of clean electricity.

The local government minister was further informed that the landfill site of Jam Chakro spread over 500 acres, of which 450 acres had already been filled and there were huge heaps of garbage there due to constant disposal of municipal waste at the site.

Shah ordered the constitution of a committee comprising the local government secretary, the Sindh Public Private Partnership Board managing director and the SSWMB chief in order to review all the issues related to the proposed project. The committee would submit its review report in seven days.

Nasir said Karachi alone had been generating municipal waste more than the garbage being produced by smaller provinces in the country and the federal energy ministry could be approached to set up several 50MW power generation plants that would consume garbage of Karachi.