Sindh govt bans littering in Karachi for 90 days

The Sindh government has banned littering for 90 days in Karachi as it undertakes a massive cleanliness campaign.

A notification issued on September 25 by Sindh Home Secretary Nasir Abbas Soomro has imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in Karachi for a period of 90 days.

It has banned open littering on the streets, littering outside the main doors of houses, littering through windows of vehicles on the road, open littering on beaches, throwing debris of damaged structures of under construction buildings on the roads and spitting paan in the open.

Anyone found littering will be prosecuted under Section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code. Section 188 relates to disobeying orders by a public servant. The penalties range from imprisonments of one month and a fine of Rs200 to imprisonments of six months and a fine of Rs1,000, depending on how the rules are violated.

But Sindh already has rules governing littering. However, under the existing rules, people can only be issued tickets, not given imprisonments for littering.

Under Schedule VI-B of the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, a Rs5,000 fine is imposed on throwing or placing any refuse, litter or garbage on any street, or in any place, not provided or appointed for the purpose by a council as well as for failing to provide for disposal of litter or garbage inside or outside a shop by its owner.

The same fine is imposed on people who damage or pollute the physical environment, inside or outside private or public premises, in a manner to endanger public health. It is also imposed on people who fail to maintain clean premises of the area in front of a shop, office or factory up to the public street or road serving this facility or fail to clean the premises, houses, shops and cultivated lands of plastic bags and other non-perishable materials.

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