The morning routine outside DMC Hospital is usually the same; ambulances honking, relatives rushing, tea vendors shouting. But on Friday early morning, the scene shifted. When Punjab’s Local Government Minister S. Harjot Singh Bains stepped out from a car– no cavalcade, no beacons, no officers trailing with files.
He had come for a surprise inspection of Ludhiana Municipal Corporation’s areas. He walked straight to a group of safai sewaks cleaning a road near the hospital. The Local Government Minister pulled a small stool, the kind roadside chai vendors use, placed it right in their circle, and said, “Bring tea, sit, let’s talk.”
He spent around 20 minutes taking feedback on sanitation, water-logging and safety gear from the safai sewaks. S. Harjot Singh Bains said, “The people who keep this city clean every single day are the best experts on how to make it better. You don’t learn this sitting in a closed room.
You learn it on a stool, with chai, beside the person holding the broom.” “Mission Clean Punjab will not be driven by files and fines alone. If we want cleaner cities, we must start by respecting the hands that keep them clean. Respect and dignity come first. The rest will follow. Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government is committed to the welfare of safai sewaks”, S. Bains stated.