Garbage piled up in the center of Kuday District in Makkah Monday. — Okaz photoOkaz/Saudi Gazette MAKKAH – Garbage in some of Makkah's residential districts has been left unattended to in Ramadan, say residents. There is also a lack of other services such as spraying teams, which normally operate in the areas throughout the year. Osama Raddadi, a resident of a Makkah district, said, “Makkah Mayoralty has neglected carrying out its role in some residential districts during the month of Ramadan, especially in terms of cleaning. Garbage and leftover food have started accumulating in the districts in front of residential buildings.” He described the services being provided by the mayoralty during Ramadan as “below par”, perhaps because it is preoccupied with keeping the Central Area clean. The majority of the mayoralty's field teams are preoccupied with cleaning the Central Area, he said. Nasser Rajeh, another Saudi national, criticized the districts' municipalities with regard to cleaning. He said they had hopes recently that matters would improve when a new specialist company was contracted to do the cleaning. But they were surprised by the low standard of cleanliness in the districts after the company was shifted to cleaning operations in the Central Area. Rajeh called on the Makkah Mayoralty to allocate some teams for cleaning operations in the Central Area and leave the other field teams for operations in the residential districts. Muhammad Ali said that leaving piles of garbage out in the open will affect public health and cause considerable environmental pollution. It will contribute to the spread of rodents and harmful insects, especially in the absence of daily spraying teams in the districts. Ali added that fasting Muslims need to breathe clean air and not air polluted with the foul odor of garbage. Osama Abdul Majeed said he took the initiative to telephone the operations room in Makkah Mayoralty and report the poor standard of cleanliness in the district. But the response was not fast enough. The situation remained the same for a long time. The mayoralty responded only after the foul odors spread to different parts of the district. Sahl Malebari, Spokesman of Jeddah Mayoralty, admitted that the mayoralty's teams are focusing on the Central Area because of the huge numbers of Umrah pilgrims and visitors during Ramadan. He said the mayoralty has employed more staff to clean the Central Area. Malebari said the municipalities were carrying out their work perfectly in other residential districts during Ramadan, specifically with regard to cleaning operations and collecting the garbage from Makkah's districts. __
