BAHAWALPUR: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Bahawalpur region Chief Commissioner Dr Muhammad Sarmad Qureshi has ordered complete audit of the recovery of withholding tax in the registry branches of all the four districts in the region.

FBR’s Bahawalpur spokesman Imran Parvez told Dawn that the audit orders by the chief commissioner has been issued after complaints of alleged misappropriation of hundred of thousands of rupees in the recovery of the withholding tax on the registration of property deeds were received in the districts of Bahawalpur ,Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yarkha and Lodhran.

The FBR has ordered the audit of all the related government departments, along with the registry branches in all four districts, where properties worth millions of rupees were transacted recovering a huge amount in the shape of withholding tax.

He said the concerned audit officials have been directed to submit their reports at the earliest after complete audit of the accounts.

Quoting the commissioner, he said the alleged misappropriation in the government money could not be tolerated and the people responsible for this alleged embezzlement would have to face disciplinary action against.

Dr Sarmad Qureshi said FBR Bahawalpur, during September had exceeded its revenue recovery target and now the efforts to achieve annual recovery target were continuing in the four districts of the region.

ACID ATTACK: The Daniwal police in Vehari district claimed to have arrested a suspect who had allegedly thrown acid on a woman teacher a few days back at 111-9 WB village.

The teacher, Ms Ghulam Sabira, had suffered acid burns in the attack, and is under treatment at the Vehari District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital.

According to police sources, the suspect, Mitthoo, brother-in-law of Sabira’s sister, wanted to marry the teacher, who rejected his proposal. This infuriated the suspect, who threw acid on Ms Sabira when she was no her way to school.

As a result, her face, eyes and arms were badly affected by acid burns and she was immediately shifted to the DHQ hospital.

Two passersby children had also suffered minor acid burns in the attack.

On victim’s complaint, Daniwal police registered a first information report (FIR) against the suspect, who has been arrested. The doctors say the woman’s body suffered 50pc burns, saying she might take several days to recover.

TWO DIE: A man and his minor daughter died, while his young son suffered serious injuries when the motorcycle they were riding hit a rickshaw laden with woods near Sumra minor canal on Shujaabad Road in Lodhran.

The deceased man and his daughter were identified as Akram (52) and Malika (9), respectively, while his injured son as Habib (18).

Meanwhile, a train passenger identified as Hashim (65), a resident of Al-Rehman Huts, South Karachi, expired apparently due to a heart attack.

As per railway police, Hashim was traveling by Green Line Express from Lahore to Karachi, when he apparently suffered a heart attack near Bahawalpur.

The railway police, called Rescue 1122 Bahawalpur team to provide emergency treatment to the passenger could not survive.

The rescue 1122 team shifted the body to the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH) and police informed the family of the deceased about his death and asked them to collect the body.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2023