LAHORE: The Punjab Local Government and Community Development department has decided to form a special monitoring cell to oversee the waste management companies’ performance on a daily basis.

The decision was taken at a review meeting of Punjab’s waste management companies chaired by Local Government minister Zeeshan Rafique via video link. Local Government department Secretary Shakeel Ahmad, Special Secretary Asia Gul and Additional Secretary Ahmar Kaifi were present in the meeting.

Directing improvements in waste collection procedures, the minister said that collecting garbage only in the morning was not enough. He said the commercial areas should be cleaned immediately after waste piled up during the day. He said the “Suthra Punjab” programme had passed its experimental phase, and now results were expected.

Mr Rafique said every village should be cleaned thoroughly and action would be taken against those who would failed to focus on rural areas. He said the chief minister had begun monitoring and field officers must be on their toes at all times. “The Eid-ul-Azha model should be implemented on regular days,” he stressed.

The local government secretary instructed the contractors to get waste enclosures repaired as a part of their responsibility.

He stressed the mechanism for addressing citizen complaints needed to be improved besides continuing awareness campaigns. He directed the contractors to address any shortage of human resources or machinery on an immediate basis.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2025