LAHORE:Punjab Minister for Local Government & Community Development (LG&CD) Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed said on Tuesday that the Punjab government had provided ample resources to the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) to solve its problems related to machinery and manpower.
He was addressing a meeting at the conference room of the LWMC in which Chairman Atif Chaudhry and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rafia Haider gave a briefing on the performance and problems of the company during the last six months.
The minister said that after provision of all basic equipment, the department should improve its performance, adding that Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi was keen to make the LWMC an authority.
Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed said that first priority of the government was to serve people and he would not let government resources go waste in that regard. He directed the CEO to fire any employee who did not work and not to take into account any political pressure. He said that an awareness campaign should be conducted considering cleanliness as a religious duty and students and new generation should be trained and made change ambassadors so that they understand the importance and usefulness of waste management.
The minister directed that new landfill sites should be found near the city so that expenditures on waste movement could be reduced. He said that the cleaning of major roads of the city should be prioritized and separate teams should be formed for cleanliness.
Earlier, the minister was told in the briefing that more than five thousand absentee and ghost employees had been removed till last month and new employees had been recruited. The CEO said that about 6,000 tons of solid waste was being collected from the city everyday. She told that due to strict monitoring and other reforms, there had been a clear reduction in illegal dumping, fuel theft and other expenditures and the attendance system was improved.
The chairman of LWMC told that discussions with hospitals and housing societies for the business development of the institution and procurement of new machinery were going on rapidly. He said that the target was to make 50 thousand students as change ambassadors of LWMC by December this year after which an international symposium would also be held.