Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif made several key announcements at the Suthra Punjab ceremony in Lahore, honoring the province’s sanitation workers and unveiling new welfare initiatives.
Maryam Nawaz announced the launch of ration cards for 150,000 Suthra Punjab workers, acknowledging their tireless service in keeping Punjab clean. “I am proud to wear the uniform of the Suthra Punjab team today,” she said. “If I can wear a commando’s uniform, why can’t I wear the uniform of this team?”
Calling the sanitation workers the “real heroes of Punjab,” she praised their dedication and highlighted their efforts during the recent floods, when many formed human chains to hold back rising waters.
The Chief Minister commended Local Government Minister Zeeshan Rafique and other officials for their coordination and declared that the Suthra Punjab team — with 150,000 members — is the world’s largest sanitation force.
Maryam Nawaz criticized previous administrations, saying, “After Shahbaz Sharif’s government ended, the sanitation system collapsed. During the era of ‘Gogi and Pinky,’ garbage piles covered every street.” She credited her government with restoring cleanliness across Punjab within months.
“Now, during Eid-ul-Azha, animal waste is cleared within two hours,” she added, noting that every district now has its own sanitation machinery with 35,000 pieces of equipment and thousands of containers.
She emphasized a changing social mindset, saying, “People no longer call them garbage collectors — they respectfully call them cleanliness workers.”
Touching on other governance issues, Maryam Nawaz said, “Education, healthcare, roads, and cleanliness are the people’s basic rights, and I am serving them with sincerity.” She also announced scholarships and laptops for talented students to ensure access to education.
Claiming that the crime rate in Punjab has dropped to zero, she added, “Those who harass women are now arrested within 24 hours.”
Concluding her address, she declared, “A revolution of development and cleanliness is underway in Punjab. I also want to see Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa clean and prosperous.”
“Development, cleanliness, laptops, and employment are the people’s rights — and I am committed to ensuring them,” she affirmed.
