Residents block highway to protest against WASA

FAISALABAD – Poor sanitation, bad smell, boiling gutters and flooding streets forced the residents of Rasoolpura and Mehar Colony to take out rallies against Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) and their elected representatives. Hundreds of protestors blocked the main Jarranwala Road at NFC Chowk, disrupting the two-way traffic by burning tyres and throwing stones on the main road.
The protesters were carrying placards and banners inscribed with anti-WASA and anti-government slogans. A banner said that MNA Ijaz Virk and MPA Asad Muazzam were missing from their constituency and the voters were requested to trace their whereabouts. They condemned the incompetence of WASA authorities and said their colonies were over-flooded with filth and dirty water, jeopardising the health of thousands of the residents of Rasoolpura and Mehar Colony.
They complained that due to the poor living conditions a number of infectious diseases have broken out in the vicinity. A number of the city administration officials reached the spot to hold dialogues with the protesters who dispersed after they were assured of speedy revamping of the sanitation system.
Illegal firework factories working with impunity in Faisalabad: A serious accident may occur as dozens of illegal firework factories are opearting under the nose of the government agencies, said a survey carried out by a government department to pinpoint those responsible for playing with the lives of innocent residents of Chak No 229 RB, Makkuana where most of the home-grown factories are working to produce high-powered firecrackers.
The team that prepared the list of 57 offenders says that 20 of them are in Makkuana alone. Though the manufacturing of fireworks is banned by the city government but the culprits are taking advantage of a lack of proper monitoring by the police and the city government administration. “Residents of the area are literally sitting on a pile of gunpowder that can be ignited anytime and if it happens there will be a heavy loss of life,” said a resident.
The survey report has named the person involved in the manufacturing, stock and trading of the banned firework material. They include Mazhar Iqbal, Abid, Abbas Manzoor, Shabbir, Altaf, Mansha, Inayat, Nadir, Ashiq, Saleem Asghar, Ghulam Rasool, Ashraf, Zulfiqar, Nawaz and Ghulam Mustafa. All these elements are based in Makkuana. There are a number of other accused living in other parts of the city that include Mustafa, Iftikhar, Yaqoob, Afzal and Mahmood Ahmed in Madina Town. Another group, including Akram, Akbar, Lateef and Yaseen, are based in Workshop Addah at Jarranwala Road.
Apart from these groups a number of individual dealers include Afzal from Bolay Di Jhuggi, Irfan from Sir Syed Town, Manzoor from Chak No 202 RB, Bhaiwala, Allah Rakha and Muhammad Ali from Chak No 217 RB Uchkera, Atif and Gulzar from Sahianwala, Hassan and Shahid from Chak Jhumra, Farooq, Asif, Kashif, Mushtaq, Sheikh Maqbool and Sardar Muhammad from Jarranwala, Zahoor, Safdar and Mujahid from Samundary, Basharat, Saleem, Bilal, Farzand, Liaquat, Walayat and Abdur Razzaq from Tandalianwala.
The city government has banned firing in the air at wedding parties, but the incidents of firing have increased manifold over the recent months and the police are silent spectators at the flagrant violations. Police parties raid wedding parties, but come back without arresting the violators after they are invited to a lavish dinner prepared for the occasion.
Bank robbed of Rs 300,000: At least three armed robbers snatched more than Rs 300,000 from the cashier of a bank and a rifle from its guard and fled away. Reportedly, a private bank’s branch at Chak Jhumra Road in Abdullahpur, under the jurisdiction of Mansoorabad Police Station, was raided by the three robbers who overpowered the security guard at the entrance and snatched his rifle from him. Then they took cashier Javed Iqbal hostage at gunpoint and snatched from him Rs 302,200.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Dr Usman Anwar, SSP Investigation Dr Abid, Sargodha Road DSP Malik Khalid and People’s Colony DSP Mirza Anjum Kamal, accompanied by a heavy contingent of police, visited the branch and recorded the statements of the bank staff.
The police cordoned off the exit points of the city at main highways, but the fleeing robbers could not be spotted. The security guard, Nadeem, told the police that the dacoits were communicating in Pushto and were armed with pistols.
Dr Abid interrogated the security guards, Faisal and Abid, and let them go. However, he censured the branch manager and operation manager for the lack of a foolproof security system.