LAHORE: Residents and shopkeepers in upscale localities across Punjab will start receiving ‘cleanliness’ utility bills from Sept 1, and these neighbourhoods will subsequently be declared ‘zero-waste’ areas with penalties for littering.
Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) Chief Executive Officer Babir Sahib Din told Dawn that all residential and commercial property owners in Lahore’s upscale localities, including Gulberg, Johar Town, Muslim Town, New Muslim Town, Shadman, Faisal Town, Garden Town, Upper Mall Scheme, and the localities facing the Canal Road, Mall Road, and Jail Road will receive their bills next month.
Private housing schemes are exempt, however, because they have their own disposal system. “This was in the works for long and finally the government decided to impose a cleanliness fee in a bid to ensure excellent cleanliness in all areas, starting from the posh ones in the first phase,” he revealed.
Penalty
The proposal to introduce a cleanliness fee regime had been approved by the Punjab cabinet in a meeting held a few months ago after the launch of the Suthra Punjab Programme. However, its implementation across the province may take up to two months.
Defaulters to face hefty fines, even FIRs for littering
An LWMC spokesperson said that those people who failed to pay their bills will have their waste disposal service cancelled after two months. Besides, they could face hefty fines and FIRs if they were found dumping their waste illegally, he said.
Fee categories
Under this regime, Rs300 per month fee has been fixed for a five-marla house, Rs500 for up to 10-marla, Rs1,000 fee for the houses measuring one kanal and above.
Likewise, Rs500 to Rs3,000 cleanliness fee has been fixed for business premises according to nature and volume of the business. Rs200 fee has been suggested for houses in rural areas.
Mr Din said people in the posh localities of other districts, including Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, Faisalabad, and Sargodha, would also receive cleanliness bills for August in the coming days.
He said these neighbourhoods would be declared ‘zero-waste’ areas, so the government would impose fines in case anyone was found littering. “
Our enforcement inspectors and their staff will start making rounds of these localities very soon. And if they found anyone littering, a fine would immediately be imposed on such people,” he warned, requesting the people to refrain from such acts.
He said the core objective behind the introduction of the cleanliness regime was not only to make the waste management system sustainable but also to create a sense of ownership among the public at large.
