Marking a paradigm shift in Punjab’s urban sanitation & cleaning initiative, Punjab Local Government Minister S. Harjot Singh Bains today announced a first-of-its-kind hybrid cleaning model that would make Patiala the cleanest city in the state within a month and eventually position Punjab as India’s cleanest state. Demonstrating the new system on Patiala’s streets on Wednesday morning, S. Harjot Singh Bains said the hybrid model integrates mechanised shrub-cutters, super-suction machines, scrubbers with manual waste collection and washing of roads.
It will operate on a pre-notified weekly cleaning schedule for every ward. “Under Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Mann’s leadership, Punjab is attempting India’s most advanced cleanliness system. These automatic shrub cutter and super-suction machine.
The roads and streets will be cleaned every Monday. Grass, debris and waste will be gone in one pass”, stated S. Bains. Four-step cleaning protocol includes machine-cutting of wild-grass and shrubs, followed by manual pickup of horticulture and bulky waste, suction of leftover litter and road washing, S. Harjot Singh Bains said, while adding that this is just the beginning.
Next Monday will be even better and it will keep improving every week. Wherever you see the road starting to shine, that is the result of this system. The Local Government Minister emphasised that sanitation workers remain central to the initiative, with the second step totally relying on them to collect organic waste.
“Our safai sewaks are our core partners. The machines handle the heavy work and they handle the detailing. The system is designed to reduce manual drudgery while increasing efficiency.
Once the roads start gleaming, the frequency of deep cleaning will reduce naturally but cleanliness will only increase”, he said. “Our effort is to make Patiala the cleanest city in Punjab within a month.
After that, we will rollout the initiative across the Punjab,” the Local Government Minister added.