MIRPURKHAS, Nov 30: The Mirpurkhas district council here on Saturday unanimously approved a resolution, demanding restoration of district status of Umerkot.

The Umerkot district was merged into the Mirpurkhas district some three years ago.

The resolution was tabled by Dr Ali Nawaz Shahani.

The session also demanded of the government to take legal action against the sugar mill owners, who had not complied with the government orders, regarding start of the sugarcane crushing season.

The members of the district council, including Raheem Bakhsh Baloch, Iftikhar Ahmed Arain, Mirza Masroor Baig and Pir Taj Muhammad Shah Jilani, stressed the need to appoint teachers in schools of the rural areas.

They also called for reopening the schools, which had been closed down for various reasons.

Speaking at the session, the district Nazim, Pir Shafqat Hussain Shah Jilani, asked the union council Nazimeen to present a progress report after visiting schools in their areas, where development work was being carried out.

50 detained: The police have detained at least 50 suspects, including Dilawar Banglani, Hashim Kalar and Sanjar Shar, in a concerted drive against anti-social elements.

The police operation came in the wake of the kidnappings of the medical superintendent, Jhuddo hospital, Dr Haji Mohammad Memon, and Mohammad Kamil.

The detained suspects are being interrogated by special police teams.

However, knowledgeable sources said that the outlaws, involved in the kidnappings, still remained at large.

The higher authorities have called for early action for the recovery of the kidnapped persons.

The Jhuddo police also rounded up a number of suspects the other day.

However, the police were still clueless regarding the whereabouts of the dacoits and the kidnapped people.

School bodies: The ban on using funds of the school management committees (SMCs) should be lifted to enable the schools to buy much-needed stationary, furniture and other material.

The demand was made by the school management committee of the Govt. Girls’ High School, Bhansinghabad, Mirpurkhas during a meeting held on Thursday, which was presided over by the chairman of the committee, Rafiqa Rana.

The meeting reviewed the performance of the school besides discussing problems faced by the school.

The meeting took serious note of the directive issued by the district Nazim imposing a ban on using of school management committees’ funds.

The meeting noted that there was no post of sweepers in many girls’ schools, therefore, it demanded of the district Nazim to lift ban in this regard.