IHC Order CDA To Shift  H-18 Landfill Site Shortly

Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has given a ten days deadline to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for shifting the landfill site from the proposed sector H-18 to some other suitable place. Hearing a petition filed by Naeem Zafer and other residents of the densely populated Mauza Bhadhana Kalan and Jhangi Syedan near sector H-18, the court ordered Shifting Of The Dumping Site From H-18 so as to prevent the residents of the nearby vicinity from the hazardous effects of the dump. The capital city generates around 600 tons of waste daily but the city managers are yet to arrange a permanent landfill site. Nowadays, the city managers are on their way to signing an MOU with the RWMC to use 400 kanals of the total 1265 kanals of land the RWMC has acquired in the village Bagnial (Gujar khan), some 6 KM down the main Mandra Chackwal Road.

The councilor of the petitioners, Raja Inam Amin told the court that the CDA does not have a permanent site for landfills so it is dumping the waste near the populated areas. The councilor of the petitioners pleaded that earlier the civic agency dumped its waste in sector H-10, then shifted it to H-16 owing to the protest and litigation. He said after the commencement of development activities in H-16 the landfill was shifted to H-18. Nowadays, he claimed, that the civic agency is dumping its waste somewhere near the sector H-12. He said that apart from environmental degradation the dump is a serious threat to the health of the residents of Mauza Badhana Kalan and Jhangi Syedan. Honorable judge, Abdul Sattar after hearing the petition issued notices to the secretary interior, secretory climate change, secretory cabinet and ordered the civic agency to make some alternate arrangements for the management of waste in ten days.

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It is to be mentioned here the CDA and the city managers had allocated a huge site in Sangjani as a permanent landfill but due to the environmental impact and the protest of the residents of the nearby areas including  B-17 against its hazardous effects, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) rejected the proposal. Recently the Planning and Development minister Asad Umer has announced that the CDA is about to reach an understanding with Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) to jointly use the RWMC  landfill site near Gujar Khan. The Minister said that an MOU draft is under consideration that would be finalized soon. As per the MOU, the CDA will use 400 kanal of land out of the total 1265 kanals acquired by the RWMC in a village in Gujar Khan. The proposed MOU with RWMC will resolve the issue of a permanent landfill site for the managers of the capital city.