World Minorities Alliance Convener J Salik has strongly condemned the recent signing of a sanitation contract between the Lahore City Government and two Turkish firms. Salik said it was highly shameful on the part of Punjab government that it had failed to handle a basic issue like sanitation and had handed it over to a foreign government. He alleged that the decision to hand over the contract had nothing to do with the sanitation of the city of Lahore rather it was a pre-meditated ploy to embezzle Rs 2.5 billion by the New Solid Waste Management. He said he had already challenged the decision to privatise Solid Waste Management in the Lahore High Court. Therefore, the decision to hand over the contract was unlawful.
He said the decision had endangered permanent jobs of thousands of SWM workers, mostly Christians, who were already being deprived of their basic human rights. J Salik strongly criticized Istanbul Mayor Dr Kadir Topbas for becoming party to an anti-worker decision of the Punjab government. He said the privatisation would not be accepted and a movement would be launched against the unlawful decision. He announced that the alliance would start observing ‘Shame Week’ from March 13 as protest against the SWM until the privatization decision ends.
LTC signs agreements with Turk companies
To modernise urban transport system in Lahore and other districts of the province, two agreements were inked between prominent Turk companies Al-Bayrak, Ozkartallar Compak and Lahore Transport Company (LTC). According to a handout issued here on Tuesday, Ahmet Al-Bayrak of Al-Bayrak Company and Muhibi Kartel and Abdul Qadir Turan of Ozkartallar Compak and Khawaja Ahmad Hasaan Chairman Lahore Transport Company signed the agreements. Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif and Mayor Istanbul Dr. Kadir Topbas were also present on the occasion. The Chief Minister congratulated Mayor Istanbul and his delegation as well as Pakistani and Turk business community on this occasion and said that Pakistani and Turk investors should benefit from the best opportunities of investment available in the province. He said there was vast a scope of investment in infrastructure, transport and energy sectors in Punjab and there was a need for the investors of both the countries to strengthen mutual contacts so that the stakeholders could fully benefit from the dividends of progress.
