PLATEAU State government has said that it will now punish street cleaners, who do not show up at their areas of responsibility.

The state Commissioner of Environment, Mrs. Sarah Simi Yusuf stated the government’s position at the weekend considering the huge heaps of refuse that littered some streets and residential areas in Jos/Bukuru metropolis. She was addressing sanitation supervisors at Joseph Gomwalk Secretariat, Jos.

The commissioner expressed her dismay over the growing heaps of waste within the city centre, pointing out that government would sanction any absenteeism. She said regular attendance would be taken to ensure compliance.

Yusuf said she observed, “I went round during the Christmas and the New Year periods, the street cleaners didn’t come out to clean the streets. Immediately we paid them, because we paid them some days before Christmas, the worked stopped and left the streets without being maintained.

She stated further that to ensure effective and efficient service delivery on the part of the workers, the state government has paid salaries up to December 2012, noting that the present administration was committed to ensuring a clean environment.

She said that if there was no change, henceforth, she would definitely have to drop some of them “because there are many other women who really want to do this job. Some of them don’t even come at all.”

Yusuf assured the cleaners that the ministry would continue to provide them the needed equipment, warning against burning of refuse in waste bins. Some of the workers, however, apologised, promising to put in more effort.

The cleaners, however, asked for more wage increment and more equipment to enable them to work effectively.