Khamenei's order to "eliminate the unpleasant odor" in southern Tehran

The head of Iran's Environmental Protection Organization reported the Islamic Republic's leader's "strong complaint" about the "unpleasant odor" in Tehran and his order to eliminate it "by the end of the 12th administration." The stench began spreading across a large part of Tehran in January.

Issa Kalantari, head of Iran's Environmental Protection Organization, announced on Tuesday, March 12, that the Leader of the Islamic Republic is "extremely sick" of the foul smell of the "Imam Khomeini Airport route" and has ordered that this "unpleasant odor" be eliminated by the end of the 12th government's term, which is about two and a half years away.

According to ISNA, the head of the Environmental Organization said on the sidelines of the “opening ceremony of the Panda Mihan factory wastewater treatment plant,” “The leadership and the president are very much complaining about the unpleasant smell on the way to Imam Khomeini Airport. Even the president has stated that when I am on the way to the airport, the smell of the area wakes me up.”

The police chief added: "The leadership has ordered that the unpleasant smell along the route to this airport must be eliminated by the end of the 12th government."

The governor of Tehran also said last Wednesday: "From Imam Khomeini Airport to his mausoleum, 28 points and centers have been identified where a bad smell can be smelled after 30 years. We need to understand where this bad smell comes from."

Fixing the bad odor problem “was two years behind schedule”

According to Mehr, the head of Iran's Environmental Organization, who had previously said that "the bad smell in southern Tehran will be eliminated by the summer of 2018," announced today that "if all agencies do their jobs, we hope that the bad smell in southern Tehran will be eradicated within the next two years." Thus, as the news agency announced, it appears that the problem of the bad smell in southern Tehran is "two years behind schedule."

In another part of his speech today, Issa Kalantari stated that "various agencies, including the Ministry of Energy and the regional water company, are obligated to eliminate the unpleasant odor," adding, "Tehran Municipality does not have the right to deposit municipal waste in the cheapest possible place."

The Iranian Vice President also emphasized that “the unpleasant smell on the road to Imam Khomeini Airport is an injustice we have done to the people and we must return their rights to them,” adding: “All water polluting units are obligated to pay for any water they pollute. Discharging sewage disrupts people’s comfort and is a major crime.”

Stating that “we did not have the courage to spread the country’s resources and have settled them all within a 50-kilometer radius of Tehran,” Kalantari noted: “We must make the city a tolerable and livable environment for the people. If we did not do this, we must apologize to them, and I, for my part, apologize for the bad smell on the road to Imam Khomeini Airport, which brought environmental pollution.”

Rouhani orders relocation of Aradkuh landfill

The head of the Environmental Organization continued by expressing hope that the "unpleasant odor along the Imam Airport route will be eliminated within the next two years," but considered the "bigger issue" to be the waste in the Aradkouh area (the waste processing and recycling complex in Kahrizak) and announced the order of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to the Tehran Municipality to move the "Tehran waste depot center to another location, about 100 kilometers below the current location."

In addition to the “unpleasant smell” along the route to Imam Khomeini Airport, some areas of Tehran have also been facing this problem in recent months. On January 12, Iranian media reported the release of a “bad smell” in various parts of Tehran and speculated about its origin. It was around 4:00 PM on that day that a disgusting smell filled areas 6, 2, 8, 11, and 19 of Tehran.

After that, however, various officials immediately took a stand on the matter and one after another denied the connection of this smell to their area of ​​responsibility. Even the formation of a special working group of the Crisis Management Organization could not help find the origin of this smell. From the “opening of the sewage storage” of the burned Plasco building to the “burst of the sewage network” and from the “leakage of one of the refinery or gas centers” to the activation of the “earthquake fault and Damavand volcano,” there were various speculations about the origin of this “mysterious smell.”

On January 12, Tehran Governor Anoushirvan Bandpei dismissed all these speculations and announced that “the bad smell of Tehran has become apparent,” and stated that the smell was caused by sewage pollution. According to Bandpei, “the leachate from Aradkooh waste and the fermentation and decomposition of perishable food from dairy industries and slaughterhouses” are causing severe pollution, and the smell from this pollution is also dispersed over Tehran by the wind.

Source: DW