November 13, 2001	Tuesday	Shaba’an 26, 1422

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GUJRANWALA, Nov 12: The district council has approved a budget of Rs1,570 million for the fiscal year 2001-2002.

Opposition members however raised objections to various points and later walked out and staged a sit-in outside the hall here on Monday.

The budget session was held at the Divisional Public School on the GT Road which was presided over by district Naib Nazim Haji Gohar Zaman while district Nazim Fiaz Ahmad Chattha presented the budget.

The district Nazim said the Punjab government would provide Rs1,250 million for the salary of district government employees, Rs210 million for contingency expenditures and Rs110 million for octroi and zila taxes.

He said 16 per cent of the budget amount had been allocated for the development work. At least Rs110 million would be distributed equally among union councils for their development programmes, he said.

The district government was not imposing any stove tax or other direct taxes throughout the district. Instead, he said, Rs172 million out of Rs338 million would be spent on ongoing development schemes.

Various roads and streets in remote areas would be constructed under Khushhal Pakistan and Social Action programmes while a gas supply plan in Qila Dedar Singh and construction of an overhead bridge in Wazirabad would also be got completed, he added.

GAS THEFT: A raiding team of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) on Monday caught two industrialists who were stealing gas for commercial use with the assistance of fake inspectors on the Mian Sansi Road.

Factory owners Muhammad Shahzad and Muhammad Suleman were tampering with the metres in their factories with the help of fake inspectors of the department.

On receiving information, the SNGPL regional manager constituted a team headed by an engineer. The team caught the owners and fake inspectors Ghulam Rasul and Fayyaz Ahmad red-handed. They also took metres and other equipment into their possession.

Sabzi Mandi police have registered a case against the accused.

LOOTED: Dacoits looted cash and valuables and drove away with two vehicles in four strikes in and around the city on Monday.

Five dacoits reportedly barged into industrialist Muhammad Ijaz’s house, 256-B, Model Town. They locked the women in a room at gunpoint, collected Rs50,000 in cash, gold ornaments worth Rs100,000 and other valuables and fled.

In another incident, three bandits boarded an Alipur Chattha-bound wagon in Kalaski village. They collected cash, gold jewellery and wristwatches from the passengers and beat some of them on resistance before getting down near Dogranwala.

Three robbers snatched cash and wristwatch from an industrialist in Noorpur village, Alipur Chattha when he was on his way to Qadirabad by his four-wheeler (LOC-8646). They dragged him out of the car and drove away with it.

Two robbers deprived a businessman Muhammad Ishaq of his two-wheeler on his way to Satellite Town. They also took away Rs5,000 in cash from him.