{"id":13423,"date":"2025-10-29T14:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T14:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/2025\/10\/29\/end-garbage-burning-ali-nawaz-chowk\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T18:10:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T18:10:01","slug":"end-garbage-burning-ali-nawaz-chowk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/2025\/10\/29\/end-garbage-burning-ali-nawaz-chowk\/","title":{"rendered":"End Garbage Burning Near Ali Nawaz Chowk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents and Students Suffer as Garbage Dump Burns Daily Near Ali Nawaz Chowk, Chaklala Cantonment
\n<\/b>
\nNadeem Umer<\/p>\n

Rawalpindi:<\/strong>\u00a0Residents and students in Ward 1 of Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) are facing severe air pollution as garbage is burned daily at the dumping site near Ali Nawaz Chowk, opposite the tire market. The site, located close to the\u00a0Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) girls\u2019 hostel, has become a constant source of toxic smoke and foul odor, raising serious health and environmental concerns.<\/p>\n

For over a week, piles of waste have been deliberately set on fire each morning., witnesses said, with the smoke lingering throughout the day. Female students from the RMU hostel, who live directly behind the dump, complained that their living conditions have become unbearable. \u201cWe wake up to black smoke every morning. It\u2019s getting harder to breathe, and many of us are developing coughs and chest pain,\u201d said Hina Shah, a medical student. Another student, Ayesha Khalid, added that several girls already suffering from asthma and respiratory allergies have seen their conditions worsen due to continuous smoke exposure.<\/p>\n

Nearby shopkeepers and residents echoed the same frustration. Muhammad Imran, who runs a tire shop opposite the dump, said, \u201cMost of the time, it\u2019s the Cantonment Board\u2019s own workers who burn the trash to reduce its volume. When we stop them, they ignore us or blame others. The smell of burning plastic and rubber makes it impossible to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Locals, including Asad Ali, Sajjad Hussain, and Rashid Mehmood, confirmed that garbage collection in the area is irregular the sanitation department removes waste only every two or three days, usually late in the evening. \u201cThe area stays covered in thick smoke for hours,\u201d said Asad Ali. \u201cChildren, elderly residents, and women are suffering from breathing difficulties and throat infections. The situation is worsening day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding to residents\u2019 concerns, local citizens pointed out that sanitation workers are neither trained nor aware of the dangers of open garbage burning. \u201cThey don\u2019t understand the health risks of burning plastic, rubber, and other waste materials,\u201d said Naseer Ahmed, a community elder. \u201cThese workers need proper training on air pollution and environmental safety. The Cantonment Board should ensure they are educated about the serious health hazards caused by burning garbage including toxic air, respiratory diseases, and long term environmental damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Environmentalists emphasize that burning mixed waste releases dangerous toxins such as dioxins and carbon monoxide, severely deteriorating local air quality and contributing to respiratory illnesses. Hamza Malik, a local, described the scene: \u201cThe smoke spreads over nearby residential areas, schools, and the RMU hostel. It\u2019s an environmental disaster in the making, and authorities cannot afford to stay silent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite repeated complaints from residents, students, and shop owners, the Chaklala Cantonment Board has not issued any statement or taken visible action. Citizens are urging the CEO\u00a0Chaklala Cantonment Board\u00a0and Rawalpindi district administration to intervene, enforce a ban on open garbage burning, and provide training programs for sanitation workers to adopt safe waste management practices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Residents demand action to stop garbage burning near Ali Nawaz Chowk as toxic smoke from daily dumps threatens students’ health and local air quality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":13422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[779,2392,2394,2389,2395,2396,2390,2391,1770,865,2393,2397,2398,2228],"class_list":["post-13423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan","tag-airpollution","tag-alinawazchowk","tag-cantonmentboard","tag-chaklalacantonment","tag-cleanair","tag-environmentalnegligence","tag-environmentalpollution","tag-garbageburning","tag-publichealthcrisis","tag-rawalpindinews","tag-rmu","tag-studentsprotest","tag-tiremarket","tag-wastemanagement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13423"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13429,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13423\/revisions\/13429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}