In the wake of Independence Day jubilations, the parks and the playgrounds of the federal capital are presenting a scene of neglect as they are littered with empty bottles, used tissue papers, napkins, wrappers in some cases even diapers making it quite a challenge for the civic agency, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to restore their former looks.
Parks including the capital’s iconic F-9 Park, the newly developed park close to Centaurus Shopping Mall in F-8 sector, Kachnar Park in Sector I-8 and many others are some examples how the Independence revelers played havoc with these green places of peace and serenity.
One cannot simply fathom the level of enthusiasm people, particularly the youth displayed a night prior to Independence Day and then the very night of August 14. The youngsters were riding bikes without silencers and the traffic police were playing the role of silent spectators. Similarly, families crowded the parks and ‘celebrated’ Independence with dining in the open. However, unfortunately, very few among them were careful not to spread litter and take away with them the remains of their dinner/meals.
While talking to Pakistan Observer, Jamil Hassan, a resident of the F-8/4 sector expressed his dismay at ignorance and indifference displayed by the residents towards keeping the parks clean. This is unfortunate that we as a nation don’t pay attention to cleanliness.
However, besides public awareness, it is largely the absence of sanitary staff at these places that contributed to littering of the parks. In the F-8 Park near Centaurus, it was learnt there was only one female sanitary worker and she too scarcely paid attention to her duties. “Look here, the park was crowded mainly on Tuesday and Wednesday, (August 13 and 14) and we were expecting the garbage to be removed on Thursday or at least Friday but you can see no one is there to clean the park,” said Anam, a daily visitor to the park.
She was right as the park was covered with useless things causing inconvenience to daily visitors. Not only in F-8 Park the Fatima Jinnah Park or F-9 Park and the Kachnar Park too, werecoloured with rubbish and the understaffed management was struggling to remove the dirt and dust alongside the waste material.
