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By Libya Herald reporter.
Ghariyan, 19 March 2015:
Ghariyan’s public sanitation service is short on cash, and the town’s level of cleanliness has . . .[restrict]taken a dive as a result.
According to the sanitation service director, Khalid Al-Khalifa, of the 27 vehicles employed by the sanitation division to cover the town, four of cars and three of the trucks are out of commission and in need of maintenance, but there is no money to pay for it.
The fuel shortage over the past few months has not helped either. Without a consistent petrol supply, the division has not even been able to make use of the vehicles that are in working order.
Moreover, garbage collectors have said that they have not received salaries for months. According to Khalifa, money was disbursed Wednesday to pay salaries to foreigners through September and to Libyans through October of last year, but they have yet to see the money owed them for the subsequent four and a half months.
Trash is piling up, but the sanitation service is doing the best that it can under the circumstances, Khalifa said.
Meanwhile, the local Municipal Police are demanding that closed bakeries in Ghariyan start baking bread again.
Although the bakeries have continued to receive shipments of subsidised flour, they have had nothing to show for it for months.
It has been reported that some bakers in towns all over Libya have taken advantage of the situation, selling the flour on the black market at a profit to themselves while the public suffers without bread subsidies. In fact, 21 bakeries in Ghariyan were shuttered last month for this very reason.
Those bakers who cannot reopen because of damage to their bakeries or other issues have been encouraged to inform the Municipal Guard so they can take the necessary measures, Municipal Police Director Bahlul Al-Maqdouli said.
Bakeries should be prepared for an inspection by the Office of Oversight on Food and Medicine after ten days, Maqdouli added. [/restrict]
