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The Sub- Committee of Senate Standing committee on Climate Change headed by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed conducted a visit of the water channels (Nullahs) of Islamabad to assess the environmental conditions of these natural water courses. The Sub- Committee also visit a proposed land fill site in Sangjani for the dumping of garbage of the Capital city. It was noted with concern that no proper sanitation system for Islamabad was inplace, for both the encroachments ( Kachi Abadi) as well as the CDA planned sectors. Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Senator Muhammad Ali Khan Saif, and the representative of civil society  Green Fora  , Ms. Cristina Afridi and Dr. Dushka Syed voiced serious concerns about the current system of Sanitation and garbage disposals. It was decided that in a future meeting of the Sub-Committee all they stake holder would be invited to present their concerns view and the government departments would present their plans to mitigate the situation and with planned timelines.      

The SubCommittee was informed that 20 Nullahs of Islamabad sectors had similar problems, whether in posh localities or katchi abadis, of unplanned construction without proper sewerage or sanitation facilities plus absence of a nullah Management system. During their visit to the proposed landfill site at Sangjani, the SubCommittee was given a briefing by Member (Planning), CDA, of the saga of the landfill site selected earlier in 2004, of 125 acres close to Islamabad, where a foreign donor had even promised a grant and even the Environmental Protection Agency had  given the NOC but the project was shelved in 2010, as land was given  to a developer. Senator Mushahid Hussain termed this ‘an act of criminal negligence done to protect vested interests at the expense of the people of Islamabad’. He said the Senate will ensure that a landfill site is selected and that Islamabad becomes a plastic-free zone in 2019.

The Sub-Committee was accompanied by DG, EPA and Director Admn and Director Environment, CDA.