ISLAMABAD: `Islamabad the beautiful` is fast losing its beauty due to poor environment management.

With its population having grown during the last two decades, the city is not receiving due attention from its managers. The capital city does not have a proper landfill site and garbage from the urban areas is being dumped in I-12, which is a residential sector. Most of the garbage from the rural areas goes into streams and the city`s green belts are being used for parking and commercial activities.

There is no audit of trees and the tree plantation campaign which the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and now the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) conduct each year in order to keep a check on plant mortality and the cutting of trees.

`Islamabad was designed for two million people and today, that is the number of people living in the city,` said CDA`s Director Master Planning, Zafar Iqbal Zafar during a briefing to a Senate committee on Thursday.

According to the latest census, 9.7 million people live in the rural areas and 10.3 million in the urban areas. All of the rural areas are unplanned and there is no proper sewerage system or garbage collection system, which is affecting the environment of the city.

Workshops in residential areas of the urban areas, such as those in the G-7 markaz which is known as Khada Market and encroachments in almost all markets of the city is also affecting the beauty of the city. The quality of air is being af fected by the growth of industrial activities which has lead to an increase in smoke and dust.

`The major polluters identified by CDA are steel furnaces operating in the industrial areas of sector I-9 and I-10.

The authority has so far, identified nine polluting steel furnaces and formal complaints have already been lodged with the Pak-EPA being regulatory authority,` reads a working paper which the CDA presented before the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet on Thursday.

It says that following Supreme Court orders, the CDA has directed all steel furnaces to install scrubber units to control air emissions.

The scrubbers have been installed in most industrial units and harmful emissions into the air have been curtailed to a large extent, the paper says.

However, the managements of steel mills keep the scrubbers of f most of the time in order to reduce electricity bills, the documents say, and that the CDA has also assisted Pak-EPA in sealing three steel mills in the recent past including Zia Steel in I-10/3, Silk Root Steel Mill in I-9 and Mustehkam Steel Mill in I-9.A few weeks ago, the auditor general`s of fice through a special audit also tried to inform the government about the serious environmental challenges that the federal capital was f acing. It says green belts are being used for parking and commercial purposes in violation of the master plan. It says the green belt in G-5 is used for parking while that in F-9 is used for the Traf fic Police Of fice.

According to the audit, various departments are using green areas and other spaces along the Mauve Area, G-8, G-9 and G-10 for parking purposes.

The report pointed out that CNG and petrol stations are established along the Kashmir Highway and that kiosks have been established on green belts in all sectors.

The report says bus stands and shops have been established on green belts between IJP Road and I-10 and I-9 and seeks the attention of the city managers in regards to the regular fires in the Margalla Hills, though the CDA and MCI are yet to take action to minimise the chances of fire.

Spread over 12,605 hectares, the Margalla Hills National Park witnesses dozens of fire incidents every year.

During the five years between 2009 and 2014, the hills have faced over146 hres, which damage forests and adds to air pollution in the federal capital among other adverse ef fects.

`No preventive measure appeared to have been adopted by the CDA/MCI [to] mitigate the risk of fire and to reduce the instances of fire,` the audit pointed out.The katchi abadis based on the beds of nullahs including those in G-7, G-8 and F-7 also add to the sewage problems and debris from demolished houses is also thrown into the nullahs.

`I do agree that there several environmental problems in the fe deral capital which have piled up during the last two decades but we are taking steps to bring improvement,` said MCI`s chief metropolitan officer Asad Mehboob Kayani.

`We have imposed a complete ban on all types of unauthorised buildings in Islamabad and we are also working on establishing a permanent landfill site. We will also introduce a garbage collection system for all of Islamabad as currently, garbage is only collected in the urban areas,` he said.

DG Environment Dr Sulman Sheikhalso said that steps are being taken to stop environment harming activities in Islamabad.

According to sources in the environment directorate, corruption and nepotism is affecting the performance of the entire department where several corruption inquiries have been pending for years.

They said officers responsible for the beautification of Islamabad and for the protection of the environment and forests do not have the qualifications to do so.

`You will not believe that this directorate has around 4,000 employees if you visit the city and its parks,` an of ficer of the MCI said, adding that at times, junior officers are given double charges if they do not have the right candidate and in case of shortage of manpower.