LAHORE: As the three-day extensive cleanliness operation concluded on Friday, the Suthra Punjab Authority (SPA) has said that as many as 184,000 workers collected and disposed of 365,000 tonnes of waste consisting mainly of sacrificial animal offal, making villages, towns and cities clean across the province during Eid holidays.
“Recognising the untiring efforts of 184,000 workers, who participated in the country’s largest Eid cleanliness operation, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has approved Rs10,000 cash prize (each) for them in a bid to encourage them and support their families,” Punjab Local Government Minister Zeeshan Rafique told journalists at a press conference here on Friday.
“To encourage them more, the CM has already asked the authorities concerned to register all these workers for the CM’s Rashan Card Programme and some of them have received these cards already,” the minister, who was flanked by Commissioner Maryam Khan, Deputy Commissioner retired Capt Muhammad Ali Ijaz and SPA Director General Babar Sahib Din maintained.
According to SPA’s Eid operation outcomes, extensive cleanliness arrangements were carried out across the province during Eidul Azha, with sanitation workers and operational teams removing sacrificial waste in a record-breaking operation under the Suthra Punjab campaign. More than 184,000 sanitation workers remained engaged in round-the-clock operations for 72 consecutive hours, while over 40,000 machinery units, including additional loader rickshaws and pickup vehicles, participated in the province-wide drive.
Minister says 184,000 workers to get prize money for successful cleanliness operation during Eid
The government said that over 7,000 additional machinery units were deployed to ensure timely clearance of temporary waste collection points established in urban and rural areas. Special cleaning and washing arrangements were also made for more than 6,500 mosques and Eidgahs across Punjab, while around 12 million environmentally-friendly waste bags were distributed free of cost among citizens ahead of Eidul Azha.
Officials claimed that more than 365,000 tonnes of sacrificial waste were disposed of from Lahore and other parts of Punjab during the operation. Approximately 54,000 tonnes of solid waste were removed on Chand Raat alone, followed by 125,000 tonnes on the first day of Eid, over 112,000 tonnes on the second day and more than 70,000 tonnes on the third day.
Operational vehicles travelled over six million kilometres during the campaign to facilitate citizens and maintain cleanliness standards. To assist residents, the government established 4,500 Eid camps and 7,000 temporary waste collection camps throughout the province, while special sanitation teams were deployed at 1,278 collective sacrificial sites.
Authorities further said that more than 2.1 million kilograms of lime, 40,000 litres of rose water and 150,000 litres of phenyl were used to prevent foul smell and maintain hygienic conditions in streets, neighbourhoods and slaughter areas. The operation was monitored through digital dashboards developed under the Suthra Punjab initiative.
Officials said the system received more than one terabyte of data from around 74,000 users during the Eid operation. According to the government, over 41,000 citizens contacted the helpline 1139 and the civic application for guidance and timely collection of sacrificial waste. It further claimed that Suthra Punjab remained among the top social media trends across the country during Eidul Azha.
The Punjab government also paid tribute to sanitation workers, describing them as the “real heroes” who sacrificed their own Eid celebrations to ensure a clean and pleasant environment for citizens across the province.
“Besides all this, as many as 1,300 slaughter houses, 11,000 graveyards and several other public places were kept clean during Eid days by our workers during the ongoing heatwave across the province,” the minister said, adding that only 200 people out of the total 130 million population of Punjab were reported as flouting the cleanliness SOPs. Some of them were fined while others were issued verbal warnings according to the gravity of the offence, he added.
Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2026
