LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Sunday announced sweeping measures to overhaul governance and sanitation across the province, warning that poor performance will no longer be tolerated.
Chairing an important meeting on Friday, she ordered an immediate halt to payments for substandard work and issued fresh directives targeting administrative negligence.
In a decisive move, the Chief Minister directed authorities to immediately stop payments to Shatra Punjab contractors who failed to meet the required sanitation standards. She instructed that re-contracting should be considered where performance remains unsatisfactory.
Officials were told that the province cannot afford lax oversight when it comes to public hygiene and operational governance.
Maryam Nawaz expressed strong displeasure over the poor sanitation situation in several cities. She rebuked Deputy Commissioners for recurring incidents of stray dog bites, uncovered manholes, and preventable deaths, warning: “There will be two warnings. On the third, the Deputy Commissioner will be replaced.”
She added that “taking good governance to the next level in Punjab is the top priority”, stressing that negligence in public service matters will not be excused under any circumstances.
Under the new plan, the provincial government has tightened supervision of governance and sanitation systems across Punjab. Stricter enforcement of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for all Deputy Commissioners.
Secret monitoring teams to be deployed for district-level inspections. Strict action against officials showing poor performance or negligence. Special focus on cleanliness in public places, parking lots, bus stands, and waste collection sites.
The Chief Minister stressed that the goal is to make cities cleaner, safer, and better managed.
The government also issued warnings to private contractors and sanitation departments, highlighting issues such as:
Poor cleanliness around garbage bins and waste enclosures; Lack of free medicines in government hospitals; Failure to prevent stray dog attacks; and Unsafe urban infrastructure causing manhole-related incidents.
Orders were issued to ensure thorough cleaning of city entry/exit routes, maintain green belts, and repair public toilets and water filtration plants.
Maryam Nawaz approved 24-hour CCTV monitoring to track illegal occupations and encroachments. She also ordered immediate removal of carts and stalls blocking traffic.
Market administrations will now be required to submit written assurances for maintaining government-approved price lists, with strict enforcement planned for violators.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.