Families of deceased workers get compensation

Campaign launched in rural areas to raise awareness about dangers of public defecation

BAHAWALPUR/ MULTAN/ FAISALABAD: The Bahawalpur Waste Management Company (BWMC) organised an event on Monday to distribute compensation cheques for the families of waste management officials and workers who died while on duty at the Cholistan Jeep Rally in February.

MPA Syed Wasim Akhtar, who is also the BWMC director, Mian Shahid Iqbal of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and acting managing director Muhammad Azam Khan Kanju distributed cheques among the families.

BWMC workers Muhammad Shan and Abdul Hameed died on their way to the jeep rally camp in a car accident. The BWMC had announced that their families would be given compensation.

MPA Wasim Akhtar and acting MD Kanju gave Shan’s father Abdul Shakoor and Abdul Hameed’s widow cheques for Rs400,000 each.

Dengue mosquito season

Multan’s district administration will launch a cleanliness drive in the city from March 21. During the drive, the Solid Waste Management Company will remove dirt, trash and stagnant water from all parts of the city.

“This is being done to eliminate the threat of a dengue fever outbreak,” DCO Zahid Saleem Gondal said on Monday.

Gondal said teams of three officials, led by an entomologist, would visit every union council to assess the dengue mosquito threat. He said houses would also be checked.

Last year, the city had received excessive rainfall and that had led to a dengue fever outbreak. The DCO said this time around, they would monitor all graveyards, tyre shops and nurseries daily.

Special counters for dengue fever patients will be set up at all hospitals. The DCO has urged citizens to cooperate with the district administration and anti-dengue teams in order to eliminate the threat of dengue fever.

FWMC, UAF to launch campaign

The Faisalabad Waste Management Company (FWMC) and the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) will organise a cleanliness awareness campaign in the city.

This was decided at a meeting of the FWMC on Monday.

FWMC General Manager Ejaz Ahmed Bandesha gave a short lecture to several PhD students of the Punjab Bio-energy Institute about collection, dumping and recycling of solid waste through modern techniques.

He said they would start a cleanliness campaign with the collaboration of students and staffmembers of schools, colleges and universities to ensure a clean environment.

Bio-Energy Sciences Director at UAF Ejaz Ahmed Bhatti told FWMC officials that the university would cooperate with the FWMC in this regard.

Campaign against public defecation

The provincial government has established a collective of volunteers known as the Wash Club in 100 villages of 11 union councils in Jhang district. This project is being run under the Pakistan Approach to Total Sanitation Punjab Programme.

Community Development Officer Amjad Sardar Ali told journalists on Monday that the provincial government had launched the programme to raise awareness among people regarding harmful aspects of public defection. “We are trying to make safe sanitary practices the norm in rural areas.”

Under the programme, Wash Clubs have been established in UC-47, UC-48, UC-49, UC-51, UC-65, UC-85, UC-100, UC-104, UC-105, UC-111 and UC-112, and 128 volunteers have signed up to be a part of the clubs. The volunteers will provide people information about sanitary practices and the dangers of urinating in public.  The programme will continue for two months after which the Public Health Department will construct toilets for the poorest 5 per cent of residents of these villages, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2016.