LAHORE: Punjab Local Government Minister Zeeshan Rafique has said that a uniform cleaning mechanism will be implemented across Punjab.
He expressed these views while presiding over a meeting regarding the review of the progress on outsourcing the ‘Suthra Punjab’ programme on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by Special Secretary Aseya Gul and the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of waste management companies across Punjab. He told the meeting that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has directed to extend the sanitation network to remote areas. “There should not be a single village where there is no sanitation staff available,” he directed.
He also resolved that no shortage of financial resources would be allowed for the programme. While directing the CEOs to map all the rural areas within a fortnight, he said that updated data of the ‘Ab Gaon Chamkein Ge’ may be used to introduce new sanitation standards. He added that all waste management companies should evaluate the potential contractors in each tehsil; “in the area where outsourcing is not possible, the concerned waste management company will execute the cleanliness drive”.
Rafique further said that an effective monitoring system should be prepared in advance in outsourcing. He hoped that outsourcing on the one hand would help improve the sanitation situation while providing more employment opportunities for the local population on the other.
During the meeting, it was proposed that at least one sanitation worker for 1800 rural and 1200 urban dwellers should be deputed; however, the Minister disagreed with the suggestion and directed that at least one sanitation worker for 1500 people in the villages would be fine.
Emphasizing that all the waste management companies should increase their capacity building, he pointed out that sanitation goals cannot be achieved without community mobilization. “Community committees will be formed both in villages and cities consisting of local elders who will make decisions about municipal services in their respective area,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024