LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has set a 15-day deadline to achieve a complete overhaul of cleanliness standards across the province. The directive emerged from a special meeting focused on the Suthra Punjab programme, which reviewed current performance and decided to terminate solid waste management companies due to unsatisfactory results. The meeting concluded with a decision to implement self-operation models in major cities including Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan, and Dera Ghazi Khan.

According to Directorate General Public Relation – Govt of Punjab, the chief minister voiced concerns over persistent dust and dirt on provincial roads, mandating daily washing of main thoroughfares. She instructed authorities to impose fines on individuals caught littering post-cleaning operations and emphasized penalizing those who dispose of garbage in public markets and bazaars. Specific targets were set to ensure the availability of adequate human resources and machinery in each district, with a directive to maintain cleanliness in villages on alternate days.

Maryam Nawaz Sharif further instructed deputy and assistant commissioners to conduct weekly meetings with Field Monitoring Officers, establishing Key Performance Indicators to evaluate their effectiveness. Ensuring timely salary payments to sanitation workers was also prioritized. The chief minister requested detailed reports from deputy commissioners on machinery needs and savings achieved through self-operation. Additionally, the meeting addressed the issue of fining owners of vacant plots where garbage accumulates. Reports from various district commissioners were presented, and a follow-up meeting on the Suthra Punjab programme was scheduled for the following week.