Punjab Study

LAHORE:22 January: The Environment Protection Fund (TEPF), a start-up non-profit organisation dedicated to inculcating social responsibility through community service, organised a “Clean Lahore” campaign on Saturday at Zafar Ali Road.

Students from various educational institutions, wearing white caps and specially-prepared aprons and gloves, took part in the initiative. They worked their way down the Zafar Ali Road from the Mall to Jail Road.

More than 400 volunteers from the National College of Business Administration and Economics (NCBAE), Lahore Grammar School (LGS) for Girls Main Campus, LGS JT Campus, LACAS, LGS 1A1 Campus, Saint Anthony’s School, Sacred Heart School, Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC), Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) and Tulip Tissue participated in the campaign.

TEPF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Zar Aslam, LWMC Managing Director Waseem Ajmal Chaudhry, PHA Director General Dr Abdul Jabbar Shaheen and other officers also joined students in the campaign.

Last year lobbying by the TEPF led to the removal of a 1.5-mile stretch of burnt-out train, which had remained an eyesore in the neighbourhood since 2008 when it arrived from Sindh after the riots over the death of Benazir Bhutto.

“Our strategy is to accomplish social change through advocacy, awareness campaigns and to lobby for change in government policy, such that it mandates 48 hours of community service in the private and public industry verticals,” Zar Aslam told Daily Times.

She added that these hours could be completed in four-hour slots under TEPF’s environmental projects. Zar said that all relevant city government organisations were working together as a team alongside TEPF and student volunteers to make the initiative a success.

Residents of the area appreciated the campaign and said that it would urge other citizens to join them in cleaning the city. They said that they had complained several times about the condition of the railway bogies and garbage but no one took notice.

They added that the Solid Waste Management (SWM) was responsible for such work, but the campaign had sent out a good message to the high-ups.

LWMC MD Waseem Ajmal Chaudhry praised the campaign and said that the SWM alone could not clean the city, and that citizens needed to join in as well.Daily Times.