Chitral River turned into dumping ground

Report Zahiruddin



CHITRAL: The Chitral river is gradually turning into a garbage dumping place due to sheer negligence of the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA), the residents complained.

Talking to this correspondent here on Wednesday, they said that with the expansion of settlements, the river was receiving more pollutants in absence of any controlling measures by the government. They said that the TMA had never bothered to chalk out strategy to dump solid wastes of the city and some TMA workers were also dumping wastes in the river.

According to the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) report, the daily production of solid waste in the city exceeds 10 tons and all this mass is thrown into the river. A resident said that incinerators and burning pits for the wastes must be provided by the TMA.

Some residents complained that almost all of the automobile workshops had been established near the river and the poisonous fluid was constantly drained into the river apart from other solid waste. They said that over the years, fish had become extinct in the river.

They added that the owners of the commercial buildings and houses near the river had directed sewerage lines directly into the river. They said that this made the water stinking specially in summer and it caused diseases.

Some residents alleged that the TMA was wholly responsible for sanitation of the city but it was showing total indifference which made the condition worse with each passing day. They said that the owners of the buildings must be dealt legally on account of public nuisance.

Chitral stream which passes through the bazaar area was the dirtiest place in the city and it ultimately added its filths to the river. Some residents remember the days in the recent past when the local households consumed the water of the stream which had now turned into a stream of filth and solid waste. No contact could be established with the tehsil nazim despite repeated efforts to know his version.