Punjab Government has started to celebrate Sanitation and Tree Plantation week in a bid to make Punjab Clean and Green. The Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Local Government Muhammad Basharat Raja kicked off the campaign by cleaning garbage symbolically and planting a tree at the oval ground of Government College University (GCU) Lahore on Monday. He was accompanied by the VC Prof. Dr. Syed Ameer Hassan Shah, Secretary Local Government Capt. ® Saif Anjum, DC Saleha Saeed, TV Anchor and poet Wasi Shah and a number of govt. officers, educationists, students, media persons and civil society persons. While addressing the audiences, Basharat Raja said that the sanitation and tree plantation drive was a beginning to aware the people for continuing it throughout the year for a better Punjab and Pakistan. He said that the drive was started at the directions of the Chief Minister Punjab to fulfil the PM’s vision of Clean and Green Pakistan. He said “the campaign will move from top to the lower level to eliminate the discrimination between urban and rural areas. Besides sanitation, one million trees will also be planted during the period from 18th to 23rd March in schools, hospitals and other public places. Furthermore, a pilot project of sanitation will be started in 108 selected Union Councils of Punjab with the assistance of the World Bank.” The minister urged that the cleanliness must not be regarded as the sole responsibility of the government and each citizen should realize it as a moral and social duty to keep the home and surroundings clean. He thanked the VC, faculty members and students for taking active part in the event. An awareness walk was also conducted from the GCU to Neela Gumbad lead by the minister and other eminent figures.
