Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that the modern sanitation system introduced in the provincial capital, with the collaboration of Turkishish companies, has yielded positive results.

Presiding over a meeting held at Model Town Thursday to review the sanitation system, the chief minister announced launching the same in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Faisalabad and Multan as well.

“The cleanliness system in these cities will start operating from next financial year. An Indian delegation which is on a visit to Pakistan has appreciated the system and has requested the Punjab government for cooperation and allowing a delegation of Solid Waste Management to visit India for this purpose,” the CM held.

Shahbaz said efforts of Lahore Waste Management Company and Turkishish contactors for maintaining sanitary conditions were commendable and would help make Lahore a beautiful city like Istanbul.“The collaboration between Punjab and Turkish companies has strengthened contacts at public level between the two countries while trade cooperation has also increased,” the chief minister maintained.

He directed that cleanliness arrangements in the rural areas should be further improved and modern machinery should be utilised for this purpose. He directed the finance secretary to resolve the issue of conveyance allowance of sanitary workers immediately.

The chief minister said there was a need for further improvement of sanitary system at Mohallah level. He said public awareness campaign regarding importance of the modern sanitation system should be made more effective on the pattern of dengue awareness campaign.

Shahbaz issued instructions for setting up a committee to be headed by Senior Member Board of Revenue to arrange auction of old vehicles of district government used for garbage collection and this process should be conducted in a transparent manner in the presence of media.

The chief minister said process of identifying small and big sites for disposal of solid waste in other areas of Lahore should be accelerated. He also issued instructions for the capacity-building of sanitary workers.

Earlier, the Lahore Waste Management Company managing director gave briefing regarding the progress of modern sanitary system in Lahore. He said Turkish companies Albayrak and OZPAK, besides mechanical sweeping and washing of roads, were also collecting garbage from houses and containers had been placed in different parts of the city for this purpose.

He said complaint cell for dealing with the problems of the people was also working. He said smaller vehicles were being used by the Turkish companies for collection of solid waste from Walled City and other congested areas.

Besides officials of the departments concerned Binyamin of Turkishish Company Albayrak, Hanfi Kardar and Behri Porsazo of OZPAK were also present in the meeting.