Punjab Extends Cleanliness Drive to September 12 and Rolls Out Mega Saturday Clean‑up Campaigns

Punjab’s Local Government Minister Harjot Singh Bains announced on Tuesday that the state‑wide “Cleanliness Campaign 2.0”, which kicked off on August 29, will now run until September 12. The decision came after more than 83 % of the 6,459 civic complaints lodged through the M‑Seva app were settled on the ground.

All 166 Urban Local Bodies – that is, the 14 municipal corporations plus 152 municipal councils and nagar panchayats – will stay in the game. Bains told reporters that the surge in citizen involvement, especially on the last day of the original schedule, convinced the government to extend the effort.

What’s new? Starting September 12, the administration plans four “mega” clean‑up drives, one each Saturday for the next four weeks. These aren’t just government‑run events; they’ll be joint ventures with NGOs, market associations, youth clubs, religious groups and Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs). The call to action is simple: spare two to three hours on a Saturday morning to pick up litter in parks, markets and neighbourhood streets.

“Punjab is the sacred land of gurus, saints and martyrs, and keeping it clean is our collective duty,” Bains said, urging people to see cleanliness as a shared responsibility rather than a one‑off chore.

In parallel, the Local Government Department has widened door‑to‑door garbage collection to every city, aiming to eliminate the so‑called Garbage‑Vulnerable Points (GVPs). Residents are asked to keep waste inside their homes until the collection vehicle arrives, and the government warned that littering will attract strict fines once the awareness phase ends.

During the past ten days, Bains personally visited towns such as Kurali, Kharar and Nangal, spending a few hours each day on the streets to watch sanitation workers in action. He stressed that even the most diligent government teams can’t succeed without civic cooperation, comparing the ideal of a clean Punjab to the hygiene standards of cities like Japan.

The minister also thanked MLAs, Deputy Commissioners, municipal commissioners, councillors and the many sanitation staff who have kept the wheels turning. He promised a detailed post‑campaign report, complete with photographs showing how the GVPs have been permanently cleared.