LAHORE : Punjab Local Government Department, on the directions of the Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz, has decided to expand the scope of the Model Village Programme to 7,500 villages.
In this regard, Minister for Local Government Zeeshan Rafique chaired a meeting on Saturday and reviewed the progress on the Model Village Programme.
Secretary Local Government Shakeel Ahmed Mian, Special Secretary Asia Gul, Secretary Coordination to Chief Minister also attended the meeting, while Punjab Rural Municipal Services Company (PRMSC) CEO Khurram Pervez gave a briefing.
Expressing satisfaction over the progress, Minister for Local Government Zeeshan Rafique said that the cost of Model Village Phase-I has been estimated at Rs555 billion. “It is hoped that Rs150 billion will be allocated for the Model Village Programme next fiscal year 2026-27 budget”, he remarked.
The provincial minister directed the PRMSC to complete Phase-1 in 18 months saying that CM Maryam Nawaz wanted to provide all possible facilities to villages like cities. “The Punjab government is trying to include at least 50 villages of each provincial constituency in the first phase”, he resigned. He said that “Model Villages” are also part of the “Maryam Nawaz’s Beautiful Punjab” programme. “Initially, 485 villages have been included in the programme while the work has also started in 302 villages”.
Zeeshan Rafique said that a dashboard is being created for monitoring the Model Village Programme, which will help in monitoring the work of contractors. He said that about 41,000 ponds will be restored in all 22,986 villages of Punjab in a phased manner. “Cleaning of rural ponds is a unique scheme that will restore the traditional beauty of villages. Along with the construction of streets, drains, parks, water schemes will also be created in 200 villages”, he observed. The minister also directed the CEO of PRMSC to visit the schemes.
Meanwhile, Local Government Minister Zeeshan Rafique, while clarifying in a statement on rumours of collection of so-called ‘Dung Tax’ in Punjab, said that no decision has been taken by the Punjab government to impose tax on buffalo dung. He said that the news circulating in the media about collection of Rs30 per buffalo per day of dung tax was not true.
Zeeshan Rafique said that biogas will definitely be produced from dung under Suthra Punjab Programme. A pilot project has been started for this, however, no decision has been made to impose any tax. Moreover, additional arrangements for cleanliness were definitely being made in the Gawala Colonies.
