Rising Daikundi pollution blamed on govt’s inaction

NEILI (Pajhwok): A number of residents of central Daikundi province complain the government has been inattentive to the province’s natural environment protection.

They say the environment has significantly polluted in Neili, the provincial capital, causing diseases to residents.

Rahmatullah Qasimi, a resident of Neili city, told Pajhwok Afghan News that polluting materials, particularly plastic bags, were found in abundance around the city, where diseases caused by air pollution have increased.

Nabil Mahmodi, another resident, said throwing plastics in streets caused numerous problems and diseases.

He said they had several times asked the municipality to clean the city of pollutants but the officials concerned had been careless, with the environment getting more polluted with each passing day.

“Neili’s environment is really contaminated due to poor culture of local people and inattention of the government, we have several times raised our voice over the matter but no one heard,” Mahboba Rastgar, another dweller of Neili, said.

She said Neili’s municipality used to torch plastics after their collections close to residential areas and the smoke polluted air and created health related problems for people.

On the other hand, some health experts say plastics contain carbonate, a type of chemical material, which could not be eliminated even in long years and its usage can cause cancer.

Neili municipality officials said they always tried to timely collect filth and throw that out of the city.

Eng. Noor Mohammad, Neili mayor, said the municipality’s cleanliness team was small due to budget shortage, but still they collected pollutants from the city.

“We have installed dustbins in front of every house but people are careless to keep their city clean and throw the waste in streets,” he concluded.

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