Municipality pledges to stop dumping Kabul waste in Gazak

KABUL (Pajhwok): Kabul Municipality has pledged to stop the delivery of waste to Gazak, a site in the Kakh-e-Jabbar district of Kabul province used for Kabul City’s waste dumping over the past several years. Previous government had ordered Kabul Municipality to stop dumping waste in Gazak area of Khak-i-Jabbar district of Kabul, but the order was not implemented as 3,000 tons of garbage is still disposed in the area daily.
However, Kabul Municipality says it will soon stop disposing garbage to the area and will coordinate with the Ministry of Public Health for dealing with disease spread in the area. Kabul Municipality dumps Kabul city waste from hospitals and other areas in Gazak area of Khak-i-Jabbar district from the past several years.
Following complaints from local people in Gazak area, former president, Ashraf Ghani in May 2021 had said that the waste disposal in Khak-i-Jabbar district created health problems for people and the waste should be shifted to elsewhere. Former Kabul mayor, Daud Sultanzoi, on April 25 last year, ordered stoppage of garbage dumping to the area following a presidential decree.
However, Pajhwok’s findings show that the order was not implemented and 3,000 tons of garbage is still dumped to Gazak area every day. Local people say that the garbage storage in their area created health problems for them.
Mohammad Omar, a resident of Gazak area of Khak-i-Jabbar district, talking to Pajhwok, said, “We are suffering from this garbage. It stinks very bad in the summer, it also caused diseases for us, our children infected with serious diseases, their body is covered with acnes, no one knows the treatment for that…” He showed his younger brother to Pajhwok journalist, which showed acnes on his hands.
Omar said that he has taken his brother to several doctors for treatment, but the disease was yet to be cured. Besides garbage, stray dogs from Kabul city are also moved to Gazak area, who move to local people’s house and eat people’s chickens, he said. Abdul Rahim, a local elder, said that there were many other areas where the garbage from Kabul city could be dumped.
He added that all the diseases of in their area were caused by the waste. He said that the waste should be at least disinfected and they should be provided with medical support. Kabul Municipality says that it would soon change area for waste storage. Pajhwok asked Qari Mohibullah Khamosh, head of finance and administration at Kabul Municipality, about the reason the waste is still dumped in Gazak area despite it was ordered to stop.
“The previous government had made only a decision, but in practice it did not choose any location and did not allocate any budget for it. So it was not done,” he said. He said that the municipality was working to stop the dumping of garbage in the area as soon as possible. A waste disposal area has been identified in Deh Sabz district of Kabul and the issue has included in next year’s budget, he said.
Kahmosh said that no one has so far complained to them about diseases caused by the waste in Gazak area and it was first reported only by Pajhwok. He said that they are regularly sending anti-infectives to Gazak area and would soon coordinate the diseases issue with the Ministry of Public Health.