Written by: Sajjad Hussain Bhatti
The path of rural development passes through the villages. Villagers can be empowered by giving special attention to villages at the government level. Realizing this matter, Commissioner Sargodha Division Muhammad Ajmal Bhatti 
has prepared a plan for implementing a separate sanitation system in villages and for rural economic development and given it to the Punjab government. Accordingly, committees will be formed at village or union council level. These committees will include Union Council Secretary, Patwari, Numberdar, Imam Masjid, Field Agriculture Department, Police representative and dignitaries of the area as members. These committees will take steps to address small scale problems at the village level and improve the quality of life of the people living in the villages, as well as to ensure that villagers’ agricultural products are brought directly to the market without middlemen and that they are remunerated fairly. Commissioner Muhammad Ajmal Bhatti, on the other hand, has also formulated a plan to ensure implementation through public-private partnership to build a city-style sanitation system in villages on a permanent basis.
It was greatly appreciated by Chief Minister Punjab Syed Mohsin Naqvi and he has announced the launch of this project in the entire province under the title “Ab Gaon Chamken Gy” and officially inaugurated it in a ceremony on August 14 in village Qila Sharif of Sharqpur. Under this program, for the first time in the history of Punjab, villages will also be provided with city-style cleaning staff and facilities. Along with this, city-style computerized birth certificates, marriage and death certificates will also be available in villages. Modern machinery will be provided at the Union Council level for cleaning the villages. Committees will be formed at the village level to ensure the implementation of this program. This program will solve the biggest problem of cleaning and sanitation in the villages. Dumping sites will be determined in consultation with local people for waste disposal. Regular cleaning of the streets and drains of every village will be ensured. Commissioner of Sargodha Division Muhammad Ajmal Bhatti inaugurated this program in a grand ceremony at village Chak No. 84 South of Union Council 99. Local dignitaries including Deputy Commissioner Sargodha Captain Retired Shoaib Ali, ADCR Mohsin Salahuddin, AC Sargodha Nabeel Memon, Director Local Government Malik Asif Iqbal Malik and Deputy Director Babar Shahzad Ranjha participated in the event. On this occasion, Commissioner Muhammad Ajmal Bhatti said, “Ab Gaon Chamken Gy” is a great gift of the government to the people of the villages. For the first time in the history of Punjab, villages will also be provided with cleaning staff and facilities on the pattern of cities. He added, love of country demands that we keep it clean. The residents of the villages will also have to take ownership of this program and will have to join hands with the government agencies to make their villages clean. This program will help to improve poor sewage and sanitation systems in rural areas. People can be protected from infectious diseases by cleaning staff in the villages. Speaking at the event, Deputy Commissioner Captain Retired Shoaib Ali said, machinery will be provided at the Union Council level for cleaning the villages. Deputy Director Local Government Babar Shahzad Ranjha informed about the details of the program and said that under the program “Ab Gaon Chamken Gy” every street, drain and stream of more than 850 villages of Sargodha district will be cleaned. Places for disposal of garbage will be determined in consultation with local people. He said, a lot of thought and planning has been done before the release of this program. 2 sainaitary workers and one loader rickshaw with driver will be provided in each village who will be responsible for picking up garbage from the villages, cleaning the drains and cleaning the streets. Committees consisting of dignitaries will be formed at the UC level. 200 Rs. from every house while Rs.1000 per month will be collected from shops, petrol pumps, educational institutions and other commercial entrepreneurs. The collected funds will be spent on the welfare of the people of the villages and the salaries of the cleaning staff will be provided through the committees. In this context, all the necessary equipment will also be provided to the cleaning staff. Deputy Director Babar Ranjha further said, approval of the house maps will also be given by the committees formed at the Union Council level and action will also be taken against those who establish encroachments beyond the map. He further said, no project of the government can be successful without the support of the people. The people of the villages will also have to change themselves to be equipped with urban facilities.
“Ab Gaon Chamken Gy” program was launched in Chak No. 54 MB Union Council No. 17 in District Khushab. Deputy Commissioner Khushab Zeeshan Shabbir Rana was the Chief Guest of the function. Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Khushab Mutahir Amin Hayat Wattoo, Assistant Commissioner Khushab Muhammad Ijaz Malik, Deputy Director Local Government Chaudhry Muhammad Ijaz, CEO Education Authority Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed, CEO Health Authority Dr. Akbar Mehmood, DHO Dr. Gulzar Yusuf Rao, Additional Director of Livestock, Dr. Bakshish Haider, along with numberdars, officials, dignitaries and villagers participated in large numbers. Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Commissioner Khushab Zeeshan Shabbir Rana said, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, a comprehensive program of sewage cleaning and encroachment removal is being started in rural areas under the program “Ab Gaon Chamken Gy”. He said, earlier this system was in place in the urban areas but the villages continued to be completely neglected. Now the present government has taken a revolutionary step by providing this facility at village level. Deputy Director Local Government Muhammad Ijaz, while highlighting the features of this program said, for the success of this program, separate committees will be formed at the tehsil level and village level. At the Tehsil level, this committee will be supervised by the Assistant Commissioner of the concerned Tehsil. While one representative of Revenue, Local Government, MCs, Health, Schools Education, Livestock, Agriculture, Police will be included. Apart from this, this committee will also solve other problems at the village level.
In this regard, Deputy Commissioner Sajjad Ahmed Khan in Mianwali cut the ribbon in a ceremony held at Union Council Yarukhel and officially inaugurated the program “Ab Gaon Chamken Gy”. The event was attended by Deputy Director Local Government Habibullah Khan, Assistant Director Munir Jafri, Kaleemullah Khan, employees of the Local Government Department and a large number of residents of Union Council Yarukhel. Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Commissioner said, on the special instructions of the Chief Minister of Punjab, this revolutionary program has been started to clean up the rural areas of the province and protect the residents of the rural areas from diseases. He said, sanitation is easily done in urban areas but there was no adequate sanitation system in our rural areas due to which Punjab government has started this program.
Deputy Commissioner Dr. Noor Muhammad Awan formally launched the program “Ab Gaon Chamken Gy” in Chak No. 30 Union Council Gadola of Bhakkar. Local government department officers, numberdars of the concerned Union Council and local dignitaries were present in the ceremony. Deputy Commissioner Dr. Noor Muhammad Awan said, “Ab Gaon Chamken Gy” program is a revolutionary program of the Punjab government under which problems like sewage, sanitation and illegal encroachment in rural areas will be solved on a priority basis so that in the villages prevention of infectious diseases can be ensured. He said, like the cities, plans have been prepared to make the sanitation system integrated and efficient in the villages as well. The government has launched an adaptation plan to ensure a clean and disease-free environment for the rural population. Now it is the responsibility of the rural people to come forward and play their part in making this project a success.
