LAHORE, Jan 26: Governor Sardar Latif Khan Khosa has demanded that a judicial commission should be constituted to investigate the deaths of some 100 heart patients due to the reaction from spurious medicines.

Speaking to reporters after the inaugural session of a two-day international conference on 'Toxicology' at the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences on Thursday, the governor said it was beyond comprehension as to why the chief minister had concentrated all powers with him.

The governor said the Punjab government had been delaying local government elections for four years and added that the local leadership must come forward to develop and implement strategies to control environmental pollution and resolve issues at the local level.

The governor said the chief minister should do some practical work than holding marathon meetings.

He said on the one hand the chief minister called himself as Khadim-i-Aala while on the other he was holding 18 ministries with him.

He said such tragedies would continue to happen, if there would be no health minister. "It is not enough that one should keep on saying that he was a staunch believer of democracy but one should also trust others for the cause of democracy," the governor said.

Mr Khosa said the chief minister did not even find it appropriate to attend the Punjab Assembly session. "If the Punjab government continues to behave like this, the PML-N will not even get candidates for the next general election.

Earlier, speaking at the inaugural ceremony, the governor said that Pakistan was facing tremendous environmental problems, including air, water and soil pollution, due to degradation of natural resources and disruption of ecosystem.

He said the environmental pollution was creating hurdles in achieving economic empowerment.

The governor said the government was promoting public health and food safety-related polices to ensure the safer and better environment for the general public and taking positive steps to overcome toxicants.

He said the misuse of chemical and excessive usage of pesticides was posing threats for human as well as animals.

Stating that the nation-building depended on teachers and scientists, the governor urged scientist, researchers and scholars to conduct research on food safety, water preservation, waste management, and control drugs and poisons to protect and upgrade future resources. UVAS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha said the livestock sector was the only sector that could help overcome poverty and serve as an engine of economic development.

He said the university had initiated extensive vocational training programmes with the collaboration of the Punjab Livestock and Dairy Development Board and Dairy and Rural Development Foundation at five locations across Punjab to train 5,000 technicians, who would be self-employed, serving the farming community at grassroots level.

Prof Pasha urged the governor/chancellor to help restore development and non-development funding through the HEC adding that it was a dire need to complete the ongoing pending projects on Ravi Campus, Pattoki.

The UVAS VC and University of Eastern Philippines Vice-President Baltazar G. Martires signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate in the area of environmental toxicology and develop joint research models to control environmental pollution.