LAHORE: Despite having a yearly budget of Rs16 billion for city cleaning, the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) is struggling with a deteriorating sanitation system due to rising levels of corruption and the presence of untrained personnel.
The “Saaf Lahore Zero Waste Programme” is launched every two months as a direct result of this dismal condition.
Sahib Deen Babar, CEO of LWMC, separated the cleaning and curative divisions in an effort to increase communication between them.
Saaf Lahore Zero Waste Programme has been launched frequently due to the presence of an unskilled crew, which has substantially hampered proper rubbish disposal.
There are approximately 3,000 trash cans all across the city that are in such bad shape that they can’t be used for garbage collection at the moment.
Because of this poor performance, trash is stacking up on the streets instead of being put in the appropriate receptacles.
The state of streets and alleys is deteriorating, contributing to an alarming increase in unpleasant odours, although big highways have better cleanliness than side streets.
Dataganj Bakhsh, Ravi, Sumanabad, Iqbal Town, and Gulbarg Zone are some of the poorer areas where residents are more likely to complain about sanitation. Public outcry has reached even the Nishtar Zone and the Aziz Bhatti Zone.
The areas that indicate advances are selectively highlighted, sometimes misleadingly, in performance reports presented to CEO Sahib Deen Babar.
Recently, CEO Babar conducted an examination of Gulbarg’s roadways and ordered that all containers found to be in poor condition be replaced immediately.
His orders included making side streets as tidy as major thoroughfares and mandating that sanitation employees be on the clock at all hours.
The inexperience of the crew working to solve the city’s sanitation crisis is becoming more and more obvious as they face the daunting task at hand.
Due to the critical nature of the situation, the municipal CEO has ordered daily zero waste initiatives at temporary collection stations.
Meanwhile, Deputy CEO Muhammad Fahad is in charge of LWMC’s procurement department, which has a budget of about Rs1.05 billion on top of the over Rs7.5 billion allocated for salaries.
Worryingly, almost seven billion rupees are allocated annually for workshops, ads, and other purposes.
Officers’ pursuit of hefty commissions is largely to blame for the organization’s financial leak, which has derailed its planning and cleanliness initiatives.
According to reliable sources, top LWMC officials appear to prioritise short-term fixes above the development of long-term strategies.
Composting garbage for electricity, curbside garbage pickup, landfill expansion, and the selling of recyclables and compostables seem to be in limbo.
CEO Babar Sahib Din stressed the importance of maintaining a clean and sanitary environment in Lahore, saying that all available resources must be used to this end.
Babar Sahib Din has asked locals to help the LWMC workers out by properly disposing of trash in the provided receptacles.
His final order underlined the necessity of all officers being present in the field to facilitate a cleaner environment for the people of Lahore and their guests.
