17 Feb 2007
Al Ain: The beauty of one the highest spots of the country, Jebel Hafeet, and the long winding road up to the top, are being spoiled by waste left behind by tourists.
Some of the places are also fast becoming landfills. Most of these places are inaccessible ridges and cannot be cleaned on regular basis. Strong winds carry around the lighter garbage like plastic bags, bottles, and paper, and dump them in the gorges and ridges.
The worst is seen on the weekends when thousands of visitors, from all over the UAE, throng to Jebel Hafeet.
Low awareness
They generate a huge amount of waste material most of which is thrown carelessly around.
Jebel Hafeet is one of the country's highest picnic spots, popular even among residents of the neighbouring GCC countries. "It looks like the dirtiest place with people having no civic sense," said John Abraham, an irritated visitor.
He said people throw disposable tea cups, empty water bottles, wrappers and other light waste that the wind carries everywhere.
According to him, environmental groups should organise clean-up campaigns to remove litter from the ridges to preserve the beauty of the rugged mountainside. Such a campaign would also create public awareness among the general public, said Abraham.
An official of Al Ain Municipality said the health department is active in cleaning up the picnic spots. "Dedicated teams are working round the clock to keep the tourist and all other places in and around the city clean."
He said dozens of waste bins have been placed in every nook and corner of the picnic spots that are regularly cleared by the officials from the health section. Municipality workers pick up cigarette buds, empty tea cups, and other waste material.
"I would advise people to cooperate with the municipality workers in keeping the places clean and avoid creating inconvenience for others," said the official.
Mushtaq Ahmad, a visitor, said he often visits from Sharjah. "Jebel Hafeet and its surroundings are generally clean," he said, adding that the problem is with the attitude and civic sense of the visitor who do not make it a point to use garbage bins.
Abdullah Khamis Al Saadi, an Emirati visitor, said strong winds at Jebel Hafeet and the view points along the way aggravate the problem.
Municipality role
"When people throw things, these fly with the winds and lands in the wadis [valleys] and the waterways that are hard to clean," he said.
He said the top of the mountain wears an ugly look, with flying plastic bags and papers, on weekends. "I think municipality should appoint inspectors to fine people found improperly dumping garbage," Al Saadi suggested.
By Aftab Kazmi
Gulf News 2007. All rights reserved.
