LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz announced on Friday farmers owning 25 acres of land would be eligible for the agricultural tubewell solarisation project.
Addressing a meeting here, she said: “A farmer will have to pay just 33 per cent of the cost and remaining 67pc will be paid by the government.” In Phase-I, 7,000 tube-wells are to be transferred to solar energy, and in Phase-II, another 10,000 would be shifted to solar energy, in collaboration with the federal government.
She directed the authorities concerned to prepare a special package for vegetable farmers as well. “Develop a sustainable system of supply management of vegetables including tomatoes, onions and other essential vegetables,” she said.
The CM was told that irrigation cost per acre by running tubewells with diesel was Rs3,000, on electricity, it was Rs1,500 per acre, while the cost of irrigating one acre with solar energy would be just Rs50. Ministers and officials concerned attended the meeting. Separately, CM Maryam Nawaz ordered for launching a pilot project of waste management system, which would be extended to the entire province later on. “Reducing inflation and ensuring cleanliness in the province are at the top of my priorities,” said the CM. She directed all deputy commissioners to start work on the project. She said she would personally supervise the pilot project, under which solid waste would be collected from every place. “There will also be cleaning and spraying of streets under the new waste management system.”
The CM directed the relevant authorities to wash roads at 5am every day. She directed deputy commissioners to continuously monitor hospitals, health centres and schools. “If a deputy commissioner cannot go everywhere personally, he/she should monitor the situation with the help of technology.” She also ordered for continuously monitoring sanitation situation through the Safe City cameras.
Maryam Nawaz expressed indignation over missing manhole covers and death of children due to biting of stray dogs. “My governance model hinges at the diligence and performance of deputy commissioner’s offices,” she said.
The CM ordered to have a uniform branding of the waste management workers across the province. She said, “Waste management system has been outsourced to improve efficiency.” Maryam added, “Seeing dirt and potholes on roads, non-operational streetlights and stray dogs in a neighbourhood showed government’s failure.”
The CM regretted that complaints were not being addressed. However, she said the performance of departments during the rainy season remained satisfactory. “After creating the key performance indicator (KPI) system, the performance of district administration is improving.”
Meanwhile, chairing a special meeting on ‘Suthra Punjab’ programme, CM Maryam Nawaz ordered for launching the initiative across the province. “Full sanitation of urban, semi-urban and rural areas should be ensured.” She lamented that sanitation situation in many cities including Lahore and Sargodha was not satisfactory.
The CM was briefed by the authorities concerned about outsourcing of solid waste management services in the province. She was apprised that 361 private companies had approached for the solid waste management across Punjab. She was told that solid waste management companies of Sargodha and Sahiwal would also become fully functional soon.