ISLAMABAD, Jan 27 (APP):The residents of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi living on both sides of the IJP Road have demanded of the authorities concerned to resolve the issues of odour emitting garbage heaps which were creating hygienic problems for them.
The commuters on the road also complained that traffic jam was a routine matter on the road, which caused them to reach their destinations late.
Talking to APP Sunday, the people, who frequent the road, said both the issues had made their lives miserable and there was no one in government departments to rid them of the same as the area was not a posh locality.
Zahoor Ahmad, who daily catches public transport from across the road to reach his office in Islamabad, said he was a patient of asthma and the garbage dumping sites scattered along the IJP Road with bitter smell made it difficult for him to breathe. The passengers had to sit in the vehicles with closed windows till their departure, which sometimes took over half an hour, he added.
Moreover, he said, the Islamabad Police had made their lives miserable by making ditches along the I-10 side of the IGP Road to stop the motorcyclists from making shortcuts, without realising that most the people residing on Rawalpindi side had to take public transport from the service road.
He said students, particularly, girls studying in Islamabad’s colleges and schools, had to face problems, particularly in rain, to cross the ditches filled with water and mud to take their buses which mostly travelled on the I-10 service road.
Faruq Durrani, a resident of area near the Railways Carriage Factory, said the dumping of solid waste collected from the city by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) at a landfill site along the I J Principal Road in Sector I-12 was a serious health and environmental issue for the residents of adjoining areas.
He alleged that the CDA could manage to dump the garbage properly as its heaps could be seen scattered over vast area emitting bad odour. Whenever, the garbage caught fire its emitted filthy smoke causing breathing problems for the people of localities across the IGP Road, he added.
Iftikhar Naqvi sharing his views said the mounds of waste material rotting in the open were providing a breeding ground for rodents, flies and insects.
He said the commuters and motorists could not keep the windows of their vehicles open while travelling on the road due to the smell. Similar was the case of area residents, who could also not open the windows of their houses, he added.
Naqvi said asthma and allergy diseases were common among the residents of area, which, the doctors say, were caused due to garbage dumped in the open along the road.
Qaiser u Zaman, another daily traveller, said besides the garbage heaps, the gridlocks on the main artery between the twin cities were a routine matter due to movement of heavy vehicles carrying goods down the country, troubling the public transport commuters and motorists alike.
Moreover, the road was in a dilapidated and shabby condition with many broken patches between the Peshawar Road, where it starts till its other end at Faizabad, which had caused many accidents, he added.
The road, which segregates the twin cities, had a number of bus terminals including the main Pirwadhai Bus Terminal in the middle with scattered bus stands, which further blocked traffic flow on it, Qaiser said.
Ejaz Shah said the IJ Principal Road remained choked almost whole day, particularly at the Pirwadhai Chowk, with overloaded heavy vehicles. The movement of loaded trucks to and from the I/11 Fruit and Vegetable Market (Sabzi Mandi) was another reason of the traffic jam, he added.
When contacted, Director Sanitation Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) Sardar Khan Zamri told APP that they were in contact with the Rawalpindi Waste Management Committee (RWMC) for the cleanliness of IJP Road.
He said they had set up a temporary landfill in the Sector I/12 where the garbage of the entire Islamabad city was being dumped. They were in the process to arrange a permanent dumping site and in that regard he had visited Sangjani many times, he added.
He claimed that the IJP Road was cleaned on daily basis with lifting of garbage, but heaps of waste cropped up again. The people of area should also take cognizance of their responsibility by not throwing their house waste in the open on the road instead of bins placed in their localities for the purpose, he added.