LAHORE: Traders allowed to cover stretch of Central Drain
By Our Reporter
LAHORE, July 19: Traders have been allowed to cover the recently-uncovered Central Drain stretch between the Hall Road and Beadon Road by pre-stressed concrete slabs.
The drain had been covered by a lintel to facilitate opening of shops on the backside of a plaza built on it in 1970s. Plaza owners earned millions of rupees by selling shops at the backside and the vast space became available in front of the shops free of charge in addition.
The City District Government first boasted of demolishing the lintel during its 'indiscriminate' campaign for removal of encroachments on the Central Drain last month, but has permitted covering it with pre-stressed concrete slabs now to keep the shops at the backside of the plaza functioning as usual.
AGRIMALL CENTRE: Punjab Agricultural Marketing Minister Rana Mohammad Qasim Noon has said the agrimall concept of providing all agricultural services under one roof will bring prosperity to the farming sector.
Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony of the first Agrimall Centre at Pasrur on Monday, the minister said the agrimalls would be offering farmers all pre-harvest to post-harvest services at one place. The banking sector had also taken radical steps for easing financing for the agriculture sector.
Agrimall Chairman Afaq Tiwana said the idea of providing all agricultural services like fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, machinery and credit under one roof had been evolved after a thorough study of the farming sector.
As many as 36 agrimalls were proposed to be established in the Punjab and two in Sindh. Agrimall Chief Executive Officer Jawed Ishaq said higher crop yield from small and medium size farming units could be obtained only by adopting modern technology.
