Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday announced that the 'Clean and Green Pakistan' campaign will be launched on October 13.

While speaking in Islamabad, the premier said the countrywide five-year campaign includes "changing mindsets" towards cleanliness, creating dumping sites for waste, provision of public toilets, and starting a volunteer scouts programme to help support the campaign.

PM Khan said that the nationwide call to action would be launched on the coming Saturday and that the chief ministers, ministers, president, as well as governors from around Pakistan will take part. Members of the civil society, including students, will also be encouraged to take part.

During the announcement on Monday, PM Khan said that the country seemed to have "accepted and become resigned to" general uncleanliness.

"People with money make sure their houses are clean but don’t look at the conditions outside the house," the prime minister said, adding that the government cannot achieve its cleanliness goals until all segments of the country become involved in the process.

"For a new Pakistan, a new mindset is required," he said, reiterating his mantra since taking power as the chief executive.

As a part of the campaign, cleanliness will be taught to children from an early stage. The importance of cleanliness, as well as the environment, will be included in the syllabus of children from Class 1 up till Class 5.

The other efforts will be monitored through a team of volunteers around Pakistan as well as by the government.

PM Khan added that monitoring would be done at the district level every two months, following which rewards would be announced every six months.

He said that the districts performing well will be given cash awards and those that are falling behind will be penalised.

"One of the reasons behind low tourism in Pakistan is that there are no [public] toilets [to facilitate travelers]," PM Khan said, adding that this was an issue that worried people when travelling to far and remote areas.

Through the initiative, public toilets will be built across the country. Immediate steps will include making sure that by 2023, there should be no shortage of public toilets across Pakistan.

PM Khan added that as of today, petrol pumps and CNG stations across the country had been issued orders to keep their toilets clean.

He added that a telephone complaint number would be placed outside each toilet to which pictures could be sent, which will be used to fine petrol pumps found not in compliance with the orders.

A 'Clean and Green Pakistan' scouts volunteer program will be launched for which registration will take place through a website. PM Khan believed that this will eventually create monitoring jobs as well.

He said celebrities, sports and media personalities will be selected as ambassadors for the project.

At the ceremony on Monday, PM Khan also requested the media to support this campaign and emphasised its importance for the future of Pakistan.

The prime minister said that he was convinced that as cleanliness across the country increased, the movement will continue to grow.