RAWALPINDI: A new landfill site for Rawalpindi city will be developed in Gujar Khan as a piece of land, measuring over 2,457 kanals, had already been purchased for this purpose.

Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench had directed Rawalpindi Commissioner retired Capt Saqib Zafar to shift the landfill site from Losar to new place as the old one was a source of pollution in the adjoining areas.

After the court orders, the commissioner asked the district revenue office to start land demarcation in Gujar Khan.

“The administration is working to develop the landfill site as per modern lines to make it useful for next 40 to 50 years,” the commissioner told Dawn.

He said the local residents of the Losar had moved the Lahore High Court and got decision in their favour. Dumping of solid waste in their areas created pollution for them.

Over 2,457 kanals of barren land has already been purchased

He said the environmentalists would be contacted to develop the landfill site on scientific lines.

The Losar is being used for landfill site since 2003. Total area is 593 kanals and it is 27km from Rawalpindi city.

“We got new land in Gujar Khan in 2013 after the formation of the Rawalpindi Municipal Waste Company. “At present, the garbage collected from Rawalpindi, Murree, Taxila and other parts of the district are dumped in Losar as per standard operating procedure issued by the Punjab government,” he said.

He said the company collected the solid waste and disposed them of properly at the landfill site.

After dumped the garbage at the landfill site, the company and other departments covered it with clay and pressed them with bulldozers, minimizing the chance of epidemic in the city.

The environmentalists are of the view that the improper disposal of municipal solid waste has negative impact on environment and human health.

They said that infections and diseases could spread from open dumping sites and it forced the people to stage protest.

They said that the improper disposal of the solid waste would produce the chemicals like leachate which can contaminate the groundwater and if once the groundwater contaminated then the billion of rupees would have to be spent to clean the groundwater.

However, sources said the new site was near a small dam for agriculture purposes.

The sources said that khasra numbers were wrong in some villages and the district revenue officials failed to rectify the wrong.

They said that the price assessment committee of the district administration revised the price of the land thrice in last six year, which will be investigated.

They said that the commissioner had also asked the district administration to hand over the record of the land acquisition to his office so he could get to the bottom.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2019