BAHAWALPUR, Jan 27: The Yazman Tehsil Council criticized the performance of health and education departments at its monthly meeting on Tuesday.

The tehsil council members said the health department's officials had failed to check quacks in the rural and urban areas.

Tehsil Nazim Haji Abbas Shahid alleged that during the last week two people lost their lives at the hands of quacks in his native Chak 107/DB and Naib Nazim Chaudhry Basharat Randhawa's Chak 88/DB.

Ghulam Murtaza told the meeting that four posts of medical officers had been lying vacant at the Head Rajkan Civil Hospital. Yazman THQ Hospital medical officer informed the meeting that OPD and admission fees had been fixed at Re1 and Rs5, respectively.

A number of members complained that most school buildings in the district were in dilapidated conditions, while several schools were without their buildings and furniture.

They also protested against levy of agriculture tax and said it was being recovered from small landholders having less than five acres. Nazim Haji Abbas Shahid asked the members to monitor the performance of government departments in all the union councils of the tehsil.

FLIGHTS: Boeing flights from Bahawalpur to Karachi are likely to be started in March, PIA district manager Hidayatullah Khan said on Tuesday. At present, the PIA is operating fokker flights from Bahawalpur to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

DACOITS HELD: The police claimed on Tuesday to have arrested 10 members of an inter-district gang of dacoits. A police spokesman said five accused were arrested from Bahawalpur while the rest were taken into custody from various parts of the district. The arrested accused include Rafiq, Ajmal, Umar Draz, Abdul Qayyum and Irshad.

DEATH SENTENCE: The additional district and sessions judge on Tuesday awarded death sentence to a man in a double murder case of Uch Sharif. Judge Iftikhar Khan also fined Sadiq Rs100,000. The judge acquitted Sadiq's seven accomplices, giving them the benefit of doubt.