KA RACHI: Heaps of filthy garbage, stinking offal and animal remains littering the city since Eidul Azha have exposed the performance of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board and its garbage disposal contracting firms, as the stench from garbage dumps has enveloped almost every part of the metropolis thatis boundtospread diseases.

The city of Quaid, by and large, has worn an extremely filthy look with stinking environment since Eidul Azha, and the situation aggravated with a new spell of monsoon rains on Sunday when offal and animal remains were seen either floating in ponds and puddles or lying soaked in different localities as the SSWMB and its contractors failed to remove garbage and filth from the city to designated landfill sites.

The SSWMB, however, on Saturday, hadclaimed that it had removed a total of 92,535 tonnes of garbage, offal and animal remains, and transported them to the landfill sites during the first four days of the Eidul Azha. It said that 18,520 tonne garbage was removed from district East, 13,349 tonne from South, 8,303 tonne from Malir, 10,177 tonne from West, 11,163 tonne from Keamari, 13,304 tonne from Korangi and 17,717 tonne from district Central.

The SSWMB said that 36,602 tonne of garbage was transported to Jam Chakru, 28,403 tonne to Gond Pass and 20,585 tonne to Shrafi Goth in landfill sites.

Despite the official claims, loads of garbage and filth littered several areas in the downtown and old town in district South such as Khar adar, Mithadar, Ranchore Line and Burns Road leading to a great deal of inconvenience to people, especially elderly and women who had to toddle over the makeshift passages of blocks and stones in stagnant and stinking water.

An elderly woman, resident of Bohra Pir locality near Ranchore Line, said that the stagnant rainwater had become so filthy and stinking that she had to keep windows of her flat closed most of the time.

Another resident of Burns Road said that thelanes and streets in the locality had become very filthy as offal and animal remains were still lying in ponds and puddles.

`The stagnant rainwater and oozing sewage in front of the Sobraj Maternity Hospital has been there since the first drop of monsoon rain, but no authorities are there to clear the way to the hospital,` he deplored.

Sources in the municipal bodies said that the SSWMB`s contracting firm failed to remove of f al and garbage f rom 70 per cent areas of districts East and South as they did not put in gear their entire machinery for disposal of garbage.

They said that the contracting firm had dumped half of the machinery and vehicles in Mehmoodabad Workshop in Mehmoodabad and KMC Workshop in district South.

An official of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, who did not wish to be named, said that effective garbage disposal could not be carried out due to lack of machinery and staff. `The entire city has been stinking due to garbage,` he added.

A resident of district Central said that garbage bins were filled to capacity and piles of garbage had httered the whole district.

`Piles of garbage can be seen along the streets and unauthorised garbage dens in the district,` said a resident of North Karachi, adding that only nominal doorto-door rickshaws were being used to h11 the garbage bins with more and more garbage which was not being removed timely.

In many areas, choked sewerage lines added to the miseries of people, while open manholes posed threats to them.