GUJRANWALA – At least 10 passengers, including seven men, two women and a child, drowned on Tuesday when a passenger van fell into a canal near Head Balloki, 52 kilometers from the city, in the jurisdiction of Alipur Chattha Police Station when the driver lost its control over the vehicle.
Reportedly, a van carrying 17 passengers was on its way to Hafizabad from Phalia. Its driver lost control over it while overtaking another van and fell into the canal as a result of which 10 passengers drowned. 10 of them, including Ali Raza, Rashida Bibi and Safia, died instantly while other seven are yet to be identified.
The lives of seven passengers, Muzaffar, Sharif, Kausar Bibi, Qasim, Anwari Begum and Naureen, were saved. Completion of CM’s package demanded: The Punjab chief minister’s coordinator, Mansha Ullah Butt, has urged the district coordinator officers (DCOs) to ensure in-time completion of the CM development package and directed them to monitor the quantity and quality checks.
He was addressing a meeting at the commissioner’s office attended by Gujranwala Division Commissioner Saeed Iqbal Wahla, DCO Nabil Ahmad Awan and other divisional officers. The meeting was told that Rs 700 million had been allocated for the development schemes in Sialkot, Rs 200 million for Narowal and Rs 200 million for Hafizabad.
The commissioner said the guidelines of the Planning and Development Department would be followed while completing all these development projects. 18 doctors offered teaching at GMC: At least 18 senior doctors at Gujranwala District Headquarters Hospital have been offered to deliver lectures at Gujranwala Medical College (GMC) by the college administration. These doctors include Asif Javed, Abdur Rehman Alvi, Naveed Aslam, Farrukh Bashir and Shahid Mughal.
The DHQ hospital had already specified the teaching hospital for the GMC till the construction of its own 1,000-bed hospital. Govt schools staff found absent: Punjab Public Instructions Director Mian Abdul Haq paid a surprise visit to the EDO office and its adjacent Government Higher Secondary School and found most of the staff absent.
He first visited the school and checked the attendance register and found that teachers’ attendance had been marked, but no teacher was present. Later, he checked the EDO office and found the same practice there as well. He said he would submit his report to the Punjab chief minister for disciplinary action.
