HYDERABAD, April 24 The Awami Tehrik chief Rasool Bux Palijo on Friday lashed out at the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) for failing to keep its promise to purchase paddy from growers and demanded that the corporation should not make further delay in buying paddy.

He said in a statement negative and discouraging response from Passco had resulted in forcing the poor growers, farmers and farm workers to starve. The poor were committing suicide and offering their children for sale in the open market, he regretted.

He said that tens of thousands of acres in Sindh had been rendered barren by large scale robbery of Indus water and the waderas, sardars, Mirs and Pirs were mainly responsible for people's miseries.

JOB TEST The University of Sindh on Friday conducted test for appointment of high school teachers at 16 examination centres including that of the university's Jamshoro campus where 185 women and 155 men appeared for the job test.

Vice-Chancellor Mazharul Haq Siddiqui said that for the first time university had been given the assignment to conduct tests for HST, JST and PST.

A spokesman for the university said that 2,500 candidates had reported at the Karachi examination centre about whom the concerned EDO had not been able to provide required information and as a result they were not issued admit cards.

But keeping in view future of the candidates and after confirmation by the EDO, they were allowed to sit the test, he said.

A total of 4,247 candidates appeared in test in Karachi, 459 in Badin, 549 in Kashmore, 1,883 in Khairpur, 1,504 in Larkana, 284 in Mirpurkhas, 581 in Shaheed Benazirabad, 1,277 in Naushahro Feroze, 852 in Sanghar, 843 in Shikarpur, 951 in Sukkur, 587 in Tharparkar, 625 in Thatta and 95 in Umerkot, he said.

The university's registrar announced, meanwhile, that the test for the appointment of junior school teachers would be held at the notified examination centres on April 25 and primary school teachers on April 26.

He advised the candidates to report at the examination centres at 8am along with their admit cards and original NICs.