Islamabad: F-Block fast losing its look

[Naveed Yaseen]

Noor Aftab
Islamabad
Satellite Town’s F-Block — once a posh locality of the city — is fast losing its look as dilapidated roads and scattered heaps of garbage have become a common sight, presenting a bleak picture of civic conditions in the locality.

Spreading over an area from Saidpur Road to New Katarian, this residential block has lost its charm, as litter and rubbish can be seen everywhere in the locality.

Most streets in the F-Block are full of dirt and trash producing stinking smell that has made lives of residents miserable.

“When we started living in this locality some twenty years back, we found it one of the best places of the city to live in. But with the passage of time, the civic conditions deteriorated to the extent that now we find it hard to live here,” said Mujtaba Tabassum, a resident of the F-Block.

Twin parks in front of the Government Millia Islamia High School, which had once been a popular evening spot especially in the summer season, have lost their traditional charm as garbage scattered all over keeps the visitors away.

“Three to four years back, people used to visit these parks in the evening after braving sweltering heat at daytime. One of the parks with slides and swings was used by families and the other one was frequented by youngsters who used to enjoy its greenery and serene environment,” said Arshad Hussain. “But now we cannot even imagine visiting these parks as stinking smell does not let anyone to sit here.”

Though town nazims have initiated some development works, but still the overall civic conditions are far from satisfactory. Many residents have to pay money to sweepers for removal of garbage from streets as there is no proper system to maintain cleanliness.

“Sweepers of the Tehsil Municipal Administration demand extra money to clean the back streets as they argue that it is not their duty to take care of them,” said Zubaida Bibi, a housewife.

The locality has wide spaces for road network, but dilapidated roads, especially in inner localities, have disfigured its face.

Whenever roads were constructed the quality of most of them was so low that asphalt rips started appearing soon after their completion, said Najaf Karim Shah.

Scattered litter around a garbage trolley placed on Saidpur Road near Pindora Chungi has become a matter of grave concern not only for the residents but also for commuters as rubbish has covered almost half of the road.

Encroachments are on the rise everywhere in the block and anyone who visits the area after a gap of four to five years may not recognise some of the street as their outlook has completely changed.

Different areas of the F-Block fall in three union councils — UC-13, 14 and 15. This scribe contacted all three UC nazims but one of them was not in the city and not available on his mobile phone.

UC-14 Nazim Zafar Mehmood and UC-15 Nazim Arsalan Hafeez were reluctant to provide a straight reply to various questions. They simply said that they have been doing their best to maintain cleanliness in their respective areas.

When contacted, Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Managing Director Islamul Haq said that his department has nothing to do with the task of removing garbage from roads.

Despite repeated attempts, Solid Waste Management District Officer Dr. Mazhar Azeem was not available for comments.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=126998