ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Imran Khan announced Monday a countrywide cleanliness campaign will be launched on October 13 as part of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s policy for a clean and green country.
While speaking in Islamabad, the premier said the countrywide five-year campaign includes “changing mindsets” towards cleanliness, creating dumping sites for waste, provision of public toilets, and starting a volunteer scouts programme to help support the campaign.
PM Khan said that the nationwide call to action would be launched on the coming Saturday and that the chief ministers, ministers, president, as well as governors from around Pakistan will take part. Members of the civil society, including students, will also be encouraged to take part.
The decision to start a countrywide cleanliness campaign ‘Clean and Green Pakistan’ was taken last month during a meeting chaired by the prime minister on climate change.
Premier’s adviser on climate change Malik Amin Aslam Khan earlier said that the government will launch an aggressive campaign to educate people and motivate them to participate in the campaign so that environmental hazards can be curbed in an effective manner.
Earlier, last month, PM Imran launched ‘Plant for Pakistan’ drive under the banner of PTI government’s billion tree Tsunami 2018 drive.
The sitting regime is especially focusing on the issue of environment and climate change as it is one of the non-traditional threat, the country is facing.
The ruling party aims to tackle the menace through initiatives like tree plantation.
The country-wide tree plantation drive comes on the heels of an apparently successful large-scale tree-planting project launched during PTI’s previous tenure in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
According to  Germanwatch, a German think-tank advocating for the prevention of dangerous climate change, Pakistan is ranked at the 7t spot in terms of vulnerability to climate change and initiatives like tree plantation are needed to reduce the intensity of the climate change effects.
