CDA anti-littering campaign gets positive public response

Islamabad: The anti-littering awareness campaign of Capital Development Authority (CDA) is in full swing with positive response from citizens that would help make the capital neat and pollution-free city.

The anti-litter force in uniform, deployed in different business centres of the capital, are engaged in disseminating information and awareness literature among the citizens about the cleanliness as part of the drive.

Director Sanitation, Captain (r) Faiz Muhammad on Thursday said that this campaign has now been extended to parks and other recreational facilities where workers of the force distribute pamphlets, containing information on anti-littering and cleanliness and motivate residents to pay their due share for the noble cause.

He told this agency that CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi has expressed his satisfaction over the performance of Sanitation Directorate and directed to extend cleanliness drive in small sectors as well. He said that wild shrubs, heaps of construction material, encroachments and leaking water poring into the streets are spoiling the beauty of the city and added the aim of the drive was to keep the city in tidy condition and preserve its natural environment and unique green character. “Our endeavour is to inculcate a sense of responsibility in the hearts and minds of the residents of the city in a way that they should feel it as their responsibility to keep the environment clean and healthy,” he added.

Captain Faiz Muhammad said under the drive, 300 new dustbins have been placed while additional 500 bins would be placed in different areas of the capital soon. These new dustbins with attractive colours have been placed in Aabpara Market and F-8 Markaz and some other areas while work is also in progress to repair and paint the old ones.

“It is our collective responsibility to keep our houses, streets and sectors clean, which would enable us to transfer this asset of clean Islamabad to the next generation,” he said, adding that the ill-planned and the haphazardly throwing of litter and waste are posing serious health problems by promoting unhygienic conditions.

He said this also causes pollution

and sanitation issues, which add to many other environmental problems and asked the media to take part in the anti-littering drive.

Director Sanitation further informed in addition to distributing pamphlets and message of Authority’s Chairman, the cleanliness messages are also being conveyed to residents through large LCDs fixed in different sectors. All the vehicles of sanitation department have been painted with slogans to make it part of the drive.

About the ‘Sanitation Helpline 1334,’ he said that the residents of the Capital are now getting a quick response to their complaints with regard to removal of garbage from their localities.

He said with the launching of the Sanitation Helpline the authority has witnessed better results as people make a phone call to the helpline and identify where they are facing any problem related to the sanitation department. The number of phone calls which was 10 to 15 few months back, now has reached 60 to 70 calls per day.

He said CDA’s team has set ‘30 minutes’ as the response time to any such call during which the problem pointed out is taken care of. This, he added, has helped us in enhancing the efficiency of the CDA Sanitation Directorate.