Deficient waste companies face termination

CM laments dust and dirt on roads

LAHORE:

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has set a 15-day deadline to ensure improvement in cleanliness across the province.

She was chairing a meeting to review the performance of the Suthra Punjab programme, during which a decision was taken to terminate the services of solid waste management companies over unsatisfactory cleanliness arrangements and launch self-operation in Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan.

The chief minister expressed concern over dust and dirt on roads across the province. She ordered daily washing of main roads.

She directed authorities to impose fines on those found littering roads after the cleaning. Penalisation for dumping garbage in vegetable, fruit, grain and other markets was also ordered.

Targets were set in the meeting for ensuring adequate human resources and machinery in every district.

The chief minister ordered the cleaning of the villages every alternate day.

She instructed the deputy and assistant commissioners to hold weekly meetings with field monitoring officers and ordered the formulation of Key Performance Indicators to assess them.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also ordered timely payment of salaries to sanitation workers in every locality. She sought details from all DCs regarding machinery required for sanitation, along with comprehensive record of savings achieved through self-operation.

The participants also discussed imposition of fine on owners of vacant plots where garbage is found.

The DCs of Multan, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Hafizabad, Muzaffargarh and other districts presented their reports. The CM directed them to physically verify the equipment in their districts.