LAHORE: Despite the tall claims of cleanliness, the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) has failed to lift waste from various parts of city, Pakistan Today learnt on Saturday as citizens expressed concern and disgust over the situation.
A selected spot for piling garbage near pasha ground, J block, Gulberg 3, is increasing difficulties of residents and making the surrounding area unhealthy, while the condition is going from bad to worse as the spot is between two schools.
A resident of the said area, Afnan Malik, said, “Schools are open for students but the unhealthy surroundings are a problem. People are lodging complaints but to no avail. It is becoming difficult to move in the area for both pedestrians and riders as the street is almost blocked by the heap of garbage. A bad odour is also spreading around the area”.
Another resident, Anwar Khan, also expressed grief over the situation saying, “Educational institutions are open and hundreds of students come to this area everyday. Despite implementing strict policy of SOPs for the prevention of Covid-19, officials are ignoring this problem.”
Another resident of the area, Akmal Bhatti, informed Pakistan Today that sweepers are not performing their duties. “Many times people have asked them to perform their duty but they claim about not receiving salaries from the LWMC,” he added.
However, a sanitation worker informed that the LWMC’s garbage collecting mechanism throughout the city was a bit complex.
“Sweepers collect waste from the street at some selected points in bins or roadside areas. From there, dumpers collect and take all the waste to the allocated waste site. But the residents are against the garbage collection site near the school as the waste is left on the road without any proper bin system,” he said.
On the other hand the LWMC Director Communication, Jamil Khawar, informed this scribe that the company was aware taking care of the problem.
“We are taking full care of the cleanliness of the city. 1139 is the helpline of LWMC and any citizen can lodge a complaint and there is a proper system that works to resolve the complaints whereas the complaint remains blinking green in the system until it gets resolved. Nonetheless if it takes too long it turns blinking red. The staff contacts the person (who has lodged the complaint) to confirm the situation is tackled before closing the complaint”.
Moreover, Khawar informed that people have to play an important role if they really want to remove the spot.
“A proper solution can be met via campaign in the area and LWMC will be standing with the citizens in the campaign,” he maintained
