The sanitation crisis, which has visited alarmingly remote portions of Islamabad, is an unfolding disaster. As poor contractors are barred by Prime Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif from carrying out cleanup operations due to non-payment of salaries for the last three months, the field cleaning has come to a standstill. This has resulted in a massive hygiene crisis, which has badly affected the lives of the workers who have lost the ability to buy their daily bread.
With heaps of filth and garbage accumulating in the area, Islamabad seems escorted in an emergency, taking an alarming turn in affecting the health of residences. The absence of contractors has disrupted work in dense areas of Islamabad. The workers are upset due to their unpaid salaries and the contractors went completely miss.
The CDA Chairman must take notice of this crisis and ensure the resumption of sanitation work. The first priority will be paying the salaries of employees in arrears and initiating action against the contractors for failing to perform their responsibilities.
Package One and Package Two government initiatives were instituted to enhance sanitation and living conditions in the rural sector. The current crisis has brought to the fore and stricter scrutiny and accountability needs to resolve such crisis in the future. The Prime Minister’s office also will have to intervene in resolving this problem and give the sanitation workers their dues.
