Lahore: Punjab Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed has stated that the Punjab Sanitation Policy is ready, according to a news report. He added that the policy will be approved by the provincial cabinet and promulgated afterwards.
The minister was speaking during a ‘question hour’ session on the issues of housing, urban development, and public health engineering. He admitted that water and sanitation schemes in Punjab had recently been facing some problems, and added that the municipal committees were unable to take their ownership due to a lack of funds.
He informed that the local government and municipal corporations do not possess funds allocations for the purpose. This is the reason why the water and sanitation schemes are not running, or are faced with operational issues.
Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi observed that established schemes should not be handed over to the municipal corporations and elected members. This can result in diversion of funds based on political considerations.
