LAHORE: Punjab will hold union council secretaries responsible for village cleanliness and has put all municipal staff on field duty to report garbage and crop-residue burning during the smog season, Local Government Minister Zeeshan Rafique said on Friday.
At a review of eight divisions at the Suthra Punjab Authority, the minister said every union council secretary had been given lists of the sanitation supervisors and workers in their area and must oversee cleanliness in their villages. Municipal officers have been assigned to individual wards in cities, and assistant and deputy directors of local government will join the monitoring.
Any burning of rubbish or crop residue must be reported immediately, and waste lying on vacant plots must not be ignored, he said. Daily and weekly reports will go to the authority, with the Director General Local Government and the Secretary Board monitoring at provincial level.
The measures add to a pre-winter package that has included bans on dry road sweeping and open burning. Burning of crop stubble and urban waste is a major contributor to the smog that blankets Lahore from late October.
The review comes days after the chief minister ordered failing Suthra Punjab contractors removed, and weeks after the government ordered a secret survey of the programme. Suthra Punjab Director General Umer Javed briefed the meeting.
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