{"id":46883,"date":"2024-01-12T06:39:06","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T06:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/capitals-waste-to-be-dumped-at-losar-landfill-site-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-01-12T06:39:06","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T06:39:06","slug":"capitals-waste-to-be-dumped-at-losar-landfill-site-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/capitals-waste-to-be-dumped-at-losar-landfill-site-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Capital\u2019s waste to be dumped at Losar landfill site | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nRAWALPINDI:
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The Islamabad district administration has won approval to dump garbage collected from the federal capital territory near Losar \u2013 a suburb of Rawalpindi district \u2013 despite the appeals made by citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

About 600 kanals of land next to the existing garbage dump at Losar has been chosen as a garbage disposal area for trash coming in from the neighbouring capital city. This development comes after the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Punjab upheld the decision of the Joint Public Hearing Committee of the Punjab Environment Protection Department (EPD) and the Islamabad district administration.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the residents of the area have announced to challenge this decision. The decision will be contested in the tribunal to be held on Friday (today).<\/span><\/p>\n

The dumping ground at Losar was built in 2010. It covers 600 kanals of land. Garbage collected from the entire Rawalpindi district has been dumped there for the past 15 years. The trash is disposed of untreated and gathered at the site in exposed piles which leads to various diseases of the nose, ears, throat and eyes that pose a potential threat for the 200,000 residents of the area.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year in February 2023, the Rawalpindi commissioner approved the CDA\u2019s request, not only allowing them to dump garbage at Losar but also granting them another 600 kanals of land for the dump\u2019s expansion. This move was protested against by citizens of the area.<\/span><\/p>\n

Citizens\u2019 Action Committee, Chairman, Fayyaz Shah Gilani, said, \u201cThe local population in Losar is extremely upset with the garbage dumping ground. In the February 8 elections, we will only cast votes for the candidate who promises to remove this dumping ground from here, otherwise, the entire population of the area will boycott the elections.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese are our ancestral lands and we will not give them up to Islamabad as a garbage dumping ground. Islamabad has a lot of land lying idle. Its district administration should build its dumping ground within its areas instead of dumping its garbage in the Rawalpindi district,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th<\/sup>, 2024.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n