Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change on Friday expressed strong concern on the lack of cleanliness, and deteriorating environment standards in the federal capital and summoned Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Ansar Aziz, Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed, and Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat to brief the committee on the matter in the next meeting.
Presided over by Sitara Ayaz, the committee expressed its annoyance that Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI), which is headed by mayor Islamabad, has not shared its report with the committee on the proposed measures to ensure cleanliness in the federal capital through effective waste management and early closure of commercial markets for the purpose of timely waste disposal on a daily basis. "Islamabad is one of the most beautiful cities of the world but the standards of civic management here are deteriorating day-by-day due to the tug-of-war between the MCI and the CDA," Sitara Ayaz said.
"There is no waste management mechanism in the federal capital and the waste is being dumped under the ground in the Sector I-12. With these kinds of measures, can we even think of ensuring cleanliness in Islamabad?" she asked.
"If things are like this in the federal capital, imagine what it would be like in the rest of the country," remarked Sherry Rehman. "Till date, the MCI and CDA have failed to determine what they have to do. Nobody has an idea what is the mandate of the MCI and what is the mandate of the CDA," she said.
The committee members expressed concern that mayor Islamabad has been summoned repeatedly by the committee in the past but he has failed to appear. The committee decided to summon the mayor again in the next meeting along with CDA chairman and DC Islamabad.
A senator, who requested not to be named, told Business Recorder that several lawmakers, both from the government and the opposition, are seriously concerned over the role of mayor Islamabad regarding different issues related to the civic management of Islamabad. "There is a strong feeling that ever since the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government came into power, the mayor of Islamabad, who belongs to the PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz), and is believed to be a close confidante of Nawaz Sharif, is proving problematic for the present government," the source said.
Recently, the MCI raised eyebrows by giving an unprecedented 10 times increase in the water charges from Rs 400 to almost Rs 4000 in the bills sent to the residents of I-8 sector and other areas of Islamabad. Reportedly, some residents registered complaints against this move at Pakistan Citizens' Portal but did not get any respite. In September last year, the MCI raised eyebrows by increasing the annual residential property tax fee in Islamabad by 200 per cent. The role of mayor Islamabad came under question when the federal capital was hit with worst water shortage in September 2018, hardly a few days after the PTI government came into power in August last year. Several sectors of Islamabad including I-8, I-9 and adjoining areas are facing serious water shortage since September 2018 despite the fact that these areas never faced water shortage before.
The mayor heads MCI, which supervises the working of the water supply, environment, sanitation and a host of other directorates related to civic management in Islamabad. In the backdrop of serious rift between the mayor and the federal government, the latter is reluctant to release funds to the MCI and the residents of Islamabad are bearing the brunt due to the lack of civic facilities, the source said.
Meanwhile, during the meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change, Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul assured the senate panel of her complete support. "The committee is authorised to take any decision it deems appropriate if the MCI is reluctant to share the report on cleanliness in Islamabad."
The committee members including Sherry Rehman, Asad Ali Khan Junejo, Pervaiz Rashid, Sana Jamali, Mushahid Hussain Syed as well as minister of state for climate change and senior officials of the MCI, the CDA, and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) attended the meeting.
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