BAHAWALPUR: The flood-affected people of Uch Sharif sub-tehsil on Sunday staged a demonstration, demanding relief goods and monetary compensation for their losses.

They gathered near Uch Sharif and chanted slogans, alleging that so far none of the government officials had approached them for help, nor they were given any food or medicines. They said their children were falling sick because of different diseases and most of their cattle had been swept away by the flood.

A large number of people from rural areas, including Rasoolpur, Bakhtiari, Tahirwali and other union councils of Uch Sharif, a sub-tehsil of Ahmedpur East tehsil, had been affected by the increasing flow of floodwater in the river Chenab during the last month.

Many of them had been illegally occupying the pond area around Panjnad Headworks, from where they were moved to safer places, along with their livestock to avoid losses before the flooding in the river Chenab.

Now, with the floodwater receding from the affected areas, most of them returned to their homes, which were badly damaged, while their crops had also been destroyed.

MURDER: A youth allegedly killed his father at Chah Amirwala village in the limits of Lodhran police station on Sunday.

According to police sources, Karim Bakhsh had distributed his landed among his two sons -- Sohail and Tufail.

They said the elder son, Sohail, sold his land share, squandered the amount and demanded his father and younger brother to sell their share too and give him more money. However, Karim Bakhsh and Tufail refused to do so.

The police sources say that on Sunday, Sohail attacked his father with a club when he was in his house, and fled away leaving him dead on the spot.

The police registered a murder case against the suspect and shifted the body to the Lodhran District Headquarters Hospital for the postmortem examination.

The police suspected that Sohail might also have killed his mother, who had died about a month ago under mysterious circumstances and started investigating the matter.

REGULARISED: Punjab government has regularised the service of 238 work-charge employees of the building department.

According to Chau­dhury Afzal Mehmood, zonal secretary of All Pakistan PWD Workers Union, the temporary employees had been demanding regularisation for their service for the last one year. These employees were handed over their appointment letters at a function here on Sunday.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2022