RAWALPINDI: The waste management system recently outsourced to the private sector in seventeen tehsils of the Rawalpindi division will become operational by December 1 under the ‘Clean Punjab’ initiative of the provincial government.

In the remaining tehsils – Pind Dadan Khan, Khewra, Kallar Kahar, and Choa Saidan Shah – the authorities have set the Jan 1 deadline for the completion of the outsourcing process.

This was shared in a meeting chaired by Punjab Minister for Local Government and Community Development Zeeshan Rafiq along with Commissioner Aamir Khattak to review the ‘Clean Punjab’ initiative.

The meeting was informed that 17 tehsils had been outsourced while the pre-qualification process for outsourcing Pind Dadan Khan, Khewra, Kallar Kahar, and Choa Saidan Shah had been completed. The officials said the union councils in which the process had been completed become operational before December 1 whereas the remaining union councils would have to be operational by Jan 1. They said that to ensure the full participation of the people, a mobile application called ‘Clean Rawalpindi’ and a toll-free number ‘1139’ had been launched.

The provincial minister, while chairing the meeting, said the Punjab government launched this programme to bring a strong and stable local government system across the province. He said that after the full implementation of this system, garbage would be collected from house to house in the cities and placed in containers to be moved to a temporary transfer station and then to the main dumping site.

He said a four-wall enclosure for garbage collected from villages will be established to cater to four union councils, adding that a temporary transfer station would be established at almost every tehsil level.

The garbage after collection would be taken to the dumping point the same day, he added. The minister claimed that the disposal system would be monitored by the government through biometric attendance, a vehicle tracking management system, and geo-tagging.

Similarly, the complaints would be addressed promptly and vehicles dumping garbage would be weighed at the dumping site. He said all the required resources were being provided by the Punjab government for this project after which there would be no compromise on cleanliness in the cities as well as the villages.

Besides local lawmakers and administrational officials, the Rawalpindi Waste Management Company, local government officials, assistant commissioners and

contractors were also present at the meeting.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2024