PESHAWAR: The provincial government has failed to purchase land for a dumping site to scientifically dispose of over 800 tonnes garbage, daily collected from urban areas of the provincial capital.

Sources said that an amount of Rs174.28 million was allocated for the purpose in the Annual Development Programme for the fiscal year 2014-15. “As successive provincial governments have never bothered to arrange land for the proper dumping of the garbage, the Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar has been throwing it in the area adjacent to provincial capital, having negative impacts on environment,” they added.

Talking to Dawn, officials in WSSP and district administration held each other responsible for delay in purchase of land in Maryamzai area, located on Kohat Road, and subsequent establishment of the dumping site there.

“All ponds of the non-functional water waste treatment plant established over 100-kanal more than two decades on Ring Road near Gulbahar area have been filled with the garbage,” said an official of WSSP said.

District administration and Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar hold each other responsible for delay

He said that it seemed that a city of garbage had been established there as thousands of crows were visiting the site on daily basis in search of food.

Sources said that as all the ponds and the land around those had been filled during the last two years. “Now WSSP is using heavy machinery to press the dumped garbage and create space for more waste,” they said.

Officials said that normally garbage should be dumped 12 kilometres away from the populated area to ward off its negative impacts but currently WSSP was throwing it near the city.

Taimur Ahmed Shah, the WSSP manager of communication and media, when contacted, said that WSSP had identified a 536-kanal piece of land in Maryamzai area for establishment of dumping site. However, the land couldn’t be bought owing to the slow process of fund release by the finance department and not acquiring the land by the district administration, he added.

Sources said that WSSP also flouted tenders for awarding contract of environmental impact assessment of the land in Maryamzai area. Several firms have applied for conducting the assessment but it couldn’t be launched as the land has not acquired so far.

Deputy Commissioner Riaz Khan Mehsud, when contacted, said that district administration imposed Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act on the identified land which was the first step for land purchase by the government.

“My staff has also calculated average yearly rate of the identified land and sent the demand for the required amount to WSSP,” he said.

The deputy commissioner said that WSSP was yet to release amount to the district administration to pay to the owners of the land. The acquiring of land was not possible for the district administration without release of fund to it by WSSP, he added. The deputy commissioner said that two reminders were also issued to WSSP for release of fund but in vain. “Acquiring land is not pending on our part,” he added.

An environmentalist said that throwing garbage near the city was hazardous for the population. “WSSP has not been dumping the garbage rather it is throwing it because dumping means covering the garbage with mud and spraying insecticides on it to eliminate breading site of mosquitoes, which causes several diseases,” he added.

The expert said that sheet of special plastic should be laid on the ground prior to dumping of the garbage to stop waste leakage otherwise it would contaminate the ground water after few years. “Unfortunately, such measures were not taken when garbage dumping was started near the city,” he added.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2016