*3.2. Impact of Environmental Toxins: Natives' Perspective*

Several janitors in Rawalpindi were questioned about this chaotic scenario. A 27-year-old janitor held people accountable for creating this chaos and blamed their carelessness. According to him, it is the sheer carelessness of people that they display by openly disposing of waste in the streets every single day and not contributing a lot to clean up the mess, which makes the situation worse in the end. Two other janitors who have been in the cleaning profession for the last ten years believed that the number of cleaning people is fewer and the waste level is significantly higher, which is why it has become very problematic for a few people to collect garbage that has been left for a long time. Almost all the janitors believed that one reason behind improper waste disposal is the lower wages that are paid to them. A 45-year-old janitor expressed that sustenance on meager figures and cleaning every single day seems difficult for most, and that is why many young janitors these days are finding alternative jobs instead of cleaning, which enables them to clean only at weekends or on special days. Another 30-year-old janitor stated:

A number of times while we are cleaning the roads and drains, the passersby, especially young boys start ridiculing us and calling us names. This sometimes leads to occasional rows as well. The young janitors who are taking up the job are hot-headed. Frequently, we have faced a situation where one of our men stops coming to work and this leaves the heaps lying on the roads for days. People also need to understand that when we are not doing this of free will, it's our job and they need to respect this opinion if they want their roads clean.

This suggests that the inability of janitors to continue working due to the attitudes of people makes the waste twofold, and it becomes impossible in the end to clean huge dumpsters.

Interviews were conducted in various suburbs of Rawalpindi, including Murree Road, Adiala Road, and Raja Bazaar. The locals reported that the implemented system of the government to collect the waste is a total failure. There is no individual appointed by the union council who comes to check on the garbage dumpsters on a daily basis. A 40-year-old female homemaker said that she has appointed some Afghani kids to collect the daily garbage who later throw the garbage in Nala Lai. An old man living in the vicinity of Raja Bazaar told us that there are open dumpsters in the nooks and crannies of every Mohallah/street, which are then dumped in Nala Lai (a rainwater-fed natural stream that runs through the city of Rawalpindi) by the mutual efforts of the people of the locality as they collect money for arranging for individuals to clean up the dumpsters. This reveals that the system of cleaning garbage in common areas is not properly managed. Five men from the area said that the dumpsters have become the reason for increased epidemics in the area, especially in the monsoon seasons when there is increased vector growth. Diseases such as dengue, Malaria, and diarrhea have become common phenomena. Some locals blame restaurant establishments that are totally unhygienic and are established just by the side of the road, which creates a very unhealthy atmosphere. A man from Murree Road revealed that it is a rare occurrence for restaurant owners to properly dispose of the waste; usually, they dispose of it quickly on the roads. The same behavior from the owner of a meat shop was noticed, who was described as not caring about the hygiene of their shop, and an unpleasant impact was noticed. A 29-year-old man from Murree Road revealed:

The restaurant owners are quite careless in dumping their waste. You will find the neighborhood all tacky and pungent because of the actions of a few. There is no one who checks on them or holds them accountable.

In order to find the opinions of restaurant owners, five different restaurant owners were interviewed, who revealed that a lack of a proper government setup prevents them from disposing of waste in safe spaces. One of the owners said that the economy has much to do with this. As the inflation graph is on a rise, it is hard for them to create safe spaces which ensure hygiene because they have been there in the locality for a while, and increasing prices beyond a certain range could lead to public outrage. A 50-year-old restaurant owner told us that:

We do not have enough money to manage waste disposal on a daily basis. In all honesty, it's not even our responsibility but the government needs to send the garbage trucks daily. When they don't pay heed to the situation and keep on raising prices, how can you expect us to manage another extra expenditure on our own?

Therefore, it becomes extremely hard for them to manage hygiene and their businesses side by side. Several owners were of the view that it is because of the lack of government care towards local businesses which prevents them from maintaining proper standards, unlike posh restaurants.

Within the locality, doctors from three different hospitals were interviewed. They had quite similar values about the health impacts of dumpsters in the area. One female doctor asserted that over the years, with the growing numbers of dumpsters, gastric problems have elevated at a much higher rate. She stated that much of it has to do with the vectors which feed on those dumpsters and then impact masses. Another doctor stated that he finds 90% of patients with diarrhea and gastroenteritis on a daily basis are infected because of unhealthy standards. Another 47-year-old physician stated:

Quite often, the attitudes of locals are also to be blamed when we talk about the negative impacts of pollution. Whenever there is an epidemic on the run, most people are reluctant to accept that it's because of their activities. Even when I suggest they use boiled water or practice basic hygiene, they are usually overlooked after the initial two days of following. People here only want to get relief from an ailment but they don't want to look at the reasons which have made them ill.

A local doctor stated that during monsoons, most of the people he treats suffer from dengue, which is an outcome of the open dumpsters. One of the doctors from the Holy Family hospital also showed great concern about waste management. He asserted that the infectious waste from the hospital needs to be properly disposed of since it is creating great havoc in spreading infectious and some fatal diseases. All four doctors believed that the government needs to be highly active about the issue of pollution and waste management and needs to take prompt measures in the area.

When every natural bliss is corrupted at a gradual pace, the most significant elixir of life is not even safe from the harsh consequences of human activities. Water, which gives life and acts as a harbinger of health and natural bliss, is now becoming a major cause of death throughout the globe as its soul is corrupted by the hands of the monster of pollution. This not only leaves a big question mark on the quality of the drinking water which is available but also closes all paths for the availability of fresh and pure water at a time when the environment is battling the issue of pollution. Eventually, there will be a lack of freshwater resources for the population all around the globe, since most of the water reservoirs have already been destroyed and are no longer suitable for drinking. Azizullah et al. (2011, pp. 479–97) note that just like other forms of environmental hazards, Pakistan faces a major issue in the supply of clean drinking water, and this makes it the 80th country among the 122 countries listed as providing fresh and clean drinking water to its people. Almost two-thirds of the drinking water, whether it is underground or appears in the form of streams or lakes, is highly polluted by the activities of humans and industries on a collaborative level. The level of toxins present in water is so high that the mortality rate is elevated particularly in this part of the South Asian region.

The locals from Adiala Road, Murree Road, and Raja Bazaar were interviewed about this issue. Nearly all the locals believed that the drinking water which is available to them is not clean at all but contaminated. Two-thirds of the locals asserted that they boil the water which they use because it helps them to elevate its quality. A 30-year-old woman, who is also a mother, believed that she can never rely on supplying unboiled water to her children as she knows that it is highly poisonous and has seen people suffering from dysentery within the locality. Locals of Adiala Road were of another opinion. They stated that their area suffers from the scarcity of drinking water most days, which is why they are forced to arrange private tankers to meet their needs. One man said that almost half of his hard-earned money is spent arranging for tankers, which seems very problematic for those belonging to the lower middle class. A 51-year-old shopkeeper shared his views:

Most of us are not affluent enough to afford mineral water or water filtration units. I have been running this grocery shop for the last twenty-five years, and throughout these years, I have seen the customers buying mineral water bottles only when they lack water bottles with them while traveling and suddenly a pang of thirst strikes.

Certain locals from the Raja Bazaar stated that the scarcity of water in their areas is a reason that they never bother about the quality of the water which is available to them. A mother from Murree Road stated that she becomes highly anxious every time her children are down with fever and diarrhea because she knows that it is because of the water, and that is why even after repeated boiling, the water quality is becoming troublesome and the chief cause of major infections.

A 43-year-old doctor who works in a government hospital said that every single day, new cases come to the hospital who are suffering from chronic diarrhea to an extent that sometimes it becomes life-threatening. In his view, the ineffectiveness of active government policies is contributing to a higher rate of infection in the suburbs. Another colleague of his believed that it is the booming level of population in these suburbs that has made it quite difficult for the hospitals as well as government organizations to provide active facilities all the time. While interviewing a general physician, it was revealed that the lack of proper planning in terms of urban development as well as active waste and sewage management in the suburbs was the prime cause of the elevation of severe health infections in these areas.
