GUJRAT: The main turbine supplying water to the small industrial estate area has been out of order for a month leaving hundreds of industrial workers as well as manufacturers without clean drinking water in such a harsh weather.

Although officials of the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) claim to have supplied industrial units with drinking water through water tanks, factory workers and manufacturers say they were facing this harsh weather without clean water and no alternatives.

The problem surfaced when the water pumping turbine fell into the bore and engineering branch of the TMA made several attempts to recover it, but failed.

An official of the TMA said the water supply line had been connected to a pipeline attached to another turbine nearby, but even then failed to provide water to the factory area.

Scores of factory owners and workers reached the office of TMA Administrator Irfan Ali Kathia and apprised him of the situation. The administrator along with a team of engineers concerned inspected the site and pledged to resolve the issue within the next few days either by repairing the previous bore or digging a new well and installing a new turbine for the area.

AWARDS: The Punjab government has recommended four names from Gujrat for conferment of civil awards on Aug 14 this year in recognition of their services to society.

Official sources said initially the district government had recommended Dr Sarwar, Imtiaz Kausar and Dr Ijaz Bashir for their services in the health sector. But the provincial government’s committee concerned, headed by Mehr Jeewan Khan and the additional chief secretary as its secretary, added the name of District Coordination Officer (DCO) Liaquat Ali Chattha to the list.

Dr Sarwar got the first burns unit constructed at Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital by donating Rs40 million, businessman Imtiaz Kausar helped build the trauma centre and provided medical equipment for it there, whereas Dr Bashir got established the first cleft hospital in the country here under the Pakistan Cleft Lip and Palate Association.

DCO Chattha’s name was included for getting a number of public welfare projects completed under private-public partnership during his two and a half years in Gujrat.

House job stipend: Though Punjab government has approved the house job stipend for the graduates of the Nawaz Sharif Medical College (NSMC), University of Gujrat against all the 100 seats, neither the UoG nor the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital (ABSTH) have the required budget for the purpose.

Last year the provincial government had awarded the stipend for 18 house job seats for NSMC graduates.

According to sources, the approval was given by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on the recommendation of a ruling party MPA, Haji Imran Zafar and ex-MPA Haji Nasir Mehmood, during a meeting in Lahore the other day.

The district administration and the NSMC management had already sought such an approval from the provincial health department.

According to a senior district government official, after the CM’s nod, the case has now been sent to finance department for release of funds for the purpose.

The NSMC was established in 2009 and the regular classes commenced there in 2010.

The first batch of the NSMC, comprising 18 graduates passed out in 2014. However, in the second batch 85 students passed.

As per the government policy, the medical graduates receive at least Rs31,000 monthly stipend during the house job period at all public sector teaching hospitals.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2016