CDA faces resistance over proposed landfill site

Islamabad : The Capital Development Authority (CDA) Tuesday faced public disapproval at a hearing conducted by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA-Pak) for the development of a proposed permanent landfill site on scientific lines near Sangjani.

Terming the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, presented by the CDA at the outset of public hearing, as obsolete and incomplete, the residents of Sangjani area exhorted the EPA to review the civic agency’s proposed site and relocate it to protect sector B-17 and adjacent areas’ dwellers from its hazardous impact.

Muhammad Faheem, a resident of sector B-17, said the proposed site was against the environmental laws and fell within 1,000 kilometer radius of the residential areas.

Sector B-17 and Faisal Hills were less than 500 meter away from the proposed site, he added.

“To us, it is discriminatory to dump garbage outside our houses and expose us to diseases and unhygienic environment,” he expressed his concern.

He said the area residents were relying on under ground water reservoirs and development of dumping site would ‘definitely’ contaminate the facility.

There were universities, colleges, residential societies and even Ghandhara civilization in the area that must be kept into mind before taking this initiative, he stressed.

The sector B-17''s Muti-professional Cooperative Housing Society General Secretary Chaudhry Nadeem said the landfill in Sangjani would damage eco-system of the area which was improved after massive plantation.

“Has the public hearing conducted at the site, the EPA would have been getting better insight about our concerns,” he said, urging its Director General Farzana Altaf Shah to visit the site before taking any decision.

“The plan must be reviewed by the civic body in greater public interest,” said Idrees Bangesh another resident.

The area people had recently gotten rid of the stone crushing plants after the Supreme Court’s intervention, he added.

Zahoor Ahmed, a retired government official, said the CDA’s recommendation for the site was only due to garbage’s cost effective transportation, ignoring other negative impacts.

A senior journalist talking on the occasion said the project should be initiated after thorough deliberations and keeping in mind public concerns.

CDA Sanitation Director Sardar Khan Zimri said the federal capital was left with no option but a permanent landfill site and was sans facility since its inception.

He assured the residents to address their grievances.

However, the residents interrupted him and forced EPA Director General Farzana Altaf to intervene to complete public hearing.

She told the residents that the public hearing was meant to hear their concerns and it would be decided after addressing them.

Farzana Shah asked the residents to keep in touch with the CDA and submit their suggestions.

She said every household in the capital city generated around 5 kilogram waste daily, regretting that so far no landfill had been set up in the city on permanent basis since 1967.