Punjab: Sanitation below par, I want all cities to look like Mashhad Iran: CM

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Shahbaz says city not cleaned despite Rs one billion being paid in salaries
* Deeply impressed with cleanliness in Mashhad

LAHORE: The performance of the Solid Waste Management Department (SWM) in maintaining sanitary conditions in Lahore is unsatisfactory, Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif said on Friday.

He was addressing a meeting to review the performance of the Urban Unit and the SWM at the CM’s Secretariat. He issued instructions to set up a special committee, headed by the chief secretary and other senior officials, which would formulate recommendations to set up solid waste management units throughout Punjab. It would submit its recommendations within three weeks.

Salaries: Shahbaz said the city had not been cleaned of garbage piles despite the payment of more than Rs one billion in salaries to the officials of the department and the availability of over 8,000 sanitary workers. He said solid waste management and providing a healthy atmosphere to the people was the priority of the government and all available resources were being used for this purpose.

Mashhad: Shahbaz said he was deeply impressed with the cleanliness in Mashhad during his visit to Iran. He said he wanted all the cities of Punjab to present the same look. He said sanitary conditions throughout the province were in dismal state and heaps of garbage could be seen not only in Lahore but also in other cities.

The CM said the main reason for the sorry state of affairs was the absence of sanitary workers, existence of mafia groups in the department and the lack of required technical expertise. He said negotiations were being held with local and foreign companies for the improvement of the existing system; however, taking capacity building steps and increasing the technical expertise within the available resources was the responsibility of the SWM.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg13_1