09 June 2004	Wednesday	20 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

LAHORE, June 8: The Parks and Horticulture Authority will likely to cancel the NOCs of the six or seven advertisement companies whose hoardings were extensively damaged or collapsed in the Sunday night rainstorm due to structural defects.

Disclosing this here on Tuesday, PHA Marketing-Director Zarif Iqbal Satti said 30 hoardings could not withstand the strong wind pressure out of over 1,000 and collapsed or were severely damaged. The hoardings, however, did not cause any damage to the life or property anywhere.

Mr Iqbal said he and other PHA officials located the billboards while going around the city and arranged their removal from the roads as no advertisement agency bothered to check them. Even the mobile phones of the companies' officials were switched off. No company official could be contacted or bothered to check the hoardings till the opening of their offices even on Monday morning.

He said 11 applications received for the qualification of engineers for certification of the structural safety of the hoardings last week were being processed. Regular quarterly checking and certification in this regard would be made mandatory after the nomination of the engineers, he added.

The marketing-director said 107 advertisement companies were registered with the PHA for the installation of the hoardings and banners. The authority was collecting Rs150 million fee per annum for permission for display of hoardings, he said.

WATER SCHEMES: The City District Government will start water supply schemes in all its 30 rural union councils. This was said by district Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood while speaking at a meeting of the Nazims of 30 city district (rural) UCs here on Tuesday. District Naib Nazim Farooq Amjad Mir also attended the meeting.

The district Nazim said water supply schemes would be started by installing a tube-well in every union council. More tube-wells would be installed later on with the increase in the demand.

Names of the respective UC nazims would be inscribed on the plaques to be installed on development projects completed in their areas, he said. Mian Amer said the CDG was also considering the up-gradation of middle and high schools in rural UCs.

All proposals for building new schools in this regard would also be accepted. The rural union council Nazims would be nominated as chairmen of the welfare councils in high schools and their representatives as chairmen of councils in middle schools.

ENCROACHMENTS: The CDG squads on Tuesday completed demolition of the encroachments on the central drain at the Lakshmi Chowk, Hall Road, Beadon Road and Anarkali areas.

Some of the encroachers tried to resist but were brought under control by the administrative machinery, led by Executive District Officer (Revenue) Malik Muhammad Bakhsh and DDO Usman Anwar.