LAHORE: The waste removal complaints to Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) were recorded 86 per cent higher than last year.
This year as many as 13,740 complaints received by the complaint cell of Lahore Waste Management Company which were redressed on an immediate basis. Meanwhile, 7,353 complaints were received in the 2017 year.
According to the details received by Daily Times, the story behind this surge is complicated as a major reason for the surge in complaints is said to be non-compliance of elected chairmen and vice chairmen of UCs of PML-N.
Sources inside of MCL and LWMC told Daily times that the graph of waste related complaints raised because of the lack of support from chairmen, deputy chairmen, and lord mayor. They said that Lord Mayor Col (r) Mubashir Javed was unhappy over the PTI’s electoral victory in Punjab in the elections of 2018, and he along with elected chairmen and vice chairmen tried to contaminate PTI’s image in the province, by showing such dismal performance of LWMC.
For this, they decided to not run the smooth coordination with the officials of LWMC in connection to remove the animals’ offal and filth during Eid.
The picture of conflict between the Lord Mayor and LWMC was cleared on last day when Col (R) Mubashir Javed gave negative remarks on the performance of LWMC. He said that the cleanliness situation of the city was too much bad and offals kept in many streets and on roads of the city were not removed by the company on time.
After this remarks, the LWMC Chairman Anwar-ul-Haq and Managing Director Farukh Butt arranged a press conference and denied all remarks of Lord Mayor. In the press conference, both officials stated that the negative comments of Lord Mayor directly demoralized the workers working in the field and left a very bad impression. Cleanliness operation was affected by rain at Shalimar town which came to its normal speed right after a rain. Mayor Lahore is respected on all platforms but such comments are not commendable where 15,000 workers are performing day and night to ensure best cleanliness services.
It is pertinent to mention here that a group of councilors has met with Deputy Commissioner Lahore and Chairman of LWMC Anwar ul Haq on Saturday and informed him about their concerns regarding the cleanliness which was coming due to Chairman of the respective union council. They have appealed Anwar ul Haq for releasing the cleanliness system from the hands of Chairman. While, DC has ensured to redress their issues as soon.
A spokesperson of LWMC claimed that the UC chairman is threatening the works for keeping away from their duties. He said that no doubt the LWMC is facing hurdles in order to make the city clean from some political workers. In a query, he informed that LWMC has suspended three workers (working in New UC 142) on account of misconduct and ghost. He said that workers were on UC Chairman’s home for personal work. He further said that LWMC took the stance of zero tolerance over corruption or any misappropriation. Chairman UC 142 retaliated over LWMC action, he forcefully stopped the workers to work in the respective area, and he took out the keys of the machinery working in the area. Further, he threatened the staff of LWMC and also called media for negative propagation of LWMC performance.
On the other hand, LWMC on Saturday arranged a Meet the Press at its head office regarding share the statistics of clean-up operations during Eid ul Azha. On the occasion, officials said that they have broken the disposed record of seven years to remove 45540 tons of animal waste particularly offal during three days of Eid-ul-Azha. They have appreciated the efforts of its team who have done a good job and gave clean look to maintain cleanliness in the provincial metropolis. Chairman admitted that our counter checking mechanism is poor but we are trying to improve it.
He has also announced to give 17 Days salary as a bonus for all LWMC employees as a token of appreciation. Chairman LWMC, Commissioner Lahore Division also appreciated MD LWMC and his team for exceptional performance in the city. He said that 17 day salary could not be a compensation for these dedicated workers who have sacrificed their Eid holidays and helped ensure a clean environment for Lahoris during Eid.
Published in Daily Times, August 26th 2018.