FAISALABAD: Scores of people on Wednesday staged a protest demonstration and blocked Sheikhupura Road by spreading garbage on it in protest against the Faisalabad Waste Management Company’s (FWMC) failure to remove the filth depot.

The FWMC dumps waste at a filth station set up on a piece of land provided by the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) on Sheikhupura Road. Both departments developed differences and Wasa refused to allocate land for the FWMC.

The issue drew attention of the higher-ups who asked the two departments to come up with a solution and a piece of land was allocated near the old filth station. The residents of nearby houses, however, asked the company to remove the filth depot that was creating immense problems for them.

Scores of people on Wednesday turned up outside the station and in utter desperation removed the waste by using machinery and spread it on the main road blocking it to traffic.

They also chanted slogans against the FWMC officials and said they would not allow the filth station near their houses.

The protesters who also set tyres ablaze, told journalists that foul smell of the garbage had made their lives miserable. They said the filth station had been previously set up on a roadside which was not a source of trouble for the people.

Officials of the FWMC said the land had been provided by the district administration following differences with Wasa. They said the protest badly affected their work as the area people forcibly threw waste on the main road.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2020