KARACHI: The local government (LG) disposed of some 150,000 tonnes of offal and the garbage collected during the three days of Eidul Azha from across the city, said Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) building, he said the Eid-related operation for the cleanliness of the city was still going on and in the past four days, the local government, Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) and the town municipal corporations (TMC) made “tireless efforts” to achieve the desired results.

He said that the collection points, roads and streets where the offal was dumped and collected, were being washed with chlorine followed by fumigation and spray of Arq e Gulab to kill the stench of the sacrificed animals’ offal.

“The cleaning operation was mainly supervised from 99 collection points which we set up across Karachi,” he said.

Says offal collection points and streets are washed with chlorine and sprayed with Arq-i-Gulab

“During the three days of the Eid, 146,584 tonnes of offal and garbage were collected through those points and disposed of. The KMC and SSWMB workers, elected representatives and the sanitary staff deserve applause for such a huge contribution. Let me promise here that municipal staff and sanitation workers will be invited to the City Council where the elected representatives will honour them.”

He said that despite serious challenges and limited resources, diligent efforts were ensured and the operation was uniformly conducted across all 25 towns. Trenches were dug for the disposal of waste; some 83,521 tonnes of waste were buried in Jam Chakro, 46,907 tonnes in Gond Pass and 16,156 tonnes in Sharafi Goth.

“Town chairmen were on the ground. I wish to thank them for establishing a commendable tradition,” he said. “Alongside the entire solid waste management team, elected municipal representatives were on the streets, managing the situation. Our political workers also played a role in keeping the city clean. We learn from our mistakes and I firmly believe that the next year our performance would be much better and any shortcoming of this year will not be repeated.”

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2024