RAWALPINDI: Federal Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Saturday inaugurated a Rs8.14 billion waste management project in the Rawalpindi city.

The project is aimed at addressing the issue of environmental degradation and pollution and bringing Rawalpindi at par with modern cities of the world.

The project involves waste collection and transportation, mechanical sweeping, washing and manual sweeping of streets and roads. With the introduction of the latest technology in waste collection and disposal, the project is expected not only to benefit the residents of Rawalpindi but also cater to the requirements of over 200,000 people living in Gujar Khan, Taxila, Kallar Syedan, Kahuta and Kotli Sattian.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony at Gulzar-i-Quaid, the minister said the project was another gift to the residents of Rawalpindi and an effort to bring a qualitative change in their lives.

Interior minister says the project will also cater to requirements of 200,000 people in Gujar Khan, Taxila, Kallar Syedan, Kahuta and Kotli Sattian

He said the government was aware of the difficulties the residents were facing during the execution of the metro bus project.

“But rest assured that once the project is completed, the residents will get huge benefits from it and transportation issues of the citizens would be resolved.”

The minister said at present the country was facing huge challenges.

“On the one hand we are fighting the menace of militancy and extremism and on the other we are trying our best to strengthen our economy and provide facilities to the citizens.”

He said the government would continue making all-out efforts to fulfil the promises made to the people.

He said it was easy to criticise someone, make tall claims and misguide the citizens through hollow slogans and rhetoric, but it was quite difficult to govern in the face of great issues that had piled up over the years.

“Unfortunately, the concept of opposition and governance today has reduced to mere blame games, recrimination, slogans and tall claims,” he lamented.

Cautioning the people to exercise their best judgment against hollow slogans and rhetoric, the minister said turncoats and interest-seekers cannot bring any meaningful change.

Referring to various policies and initiatives of the government, the interior minister said it was for the first time that an unprecedented reduction had been made in the oil prices.

The government could have kept the benefits of the falling international oil prices but it decided to pass on the benefit to the citizens, he said.

Noting that still a lot needed to be done to translate the effects of the reduced oil prices to the citizens, he called upon the provincial governments to ensure that these benefits reached the common people.

Talking about the issue of electricity loadshedding, the minister said when the PML-N government was removed in 1999 Pakistan was not only meeting its own electricity requirements but was also considering exporting its surplus electricity to a neighbouring country.

Published in Dawn February 15th , 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play