March, 12 2005	Saturday	1 Safar 1426

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SIALKOT, March 11: The construction of the main sewerage disposal centre at the Daska’s only municipal cricket stadium by the Tehsil Municipal Administration has shocked local players and the general public.

The centre meant for disposing of the sewerage and drainage water of the entire tehsil is being constructed under a multi-phased plan chalked out by the provincial government.

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi during his visit here in 2003 had announced a special grant of Rs100 million for the rehabilitation of Daska’s sewerage and drainage system. The government had recently released the grant after which the project was allotted to the Public Health Engineering Department under the supervision of the TMA.

The PHED divided Daska tehsil into four zones for initiating the project, according to which, the main disposal centre was to be constructed at the cricket stadium.

The stadium was established in 1988 by the Punjab government with a special grant of Rs3.8 million.

Agonized by the decision, local youths and cricket lovers have announced that they will go on a hunger strike against the municipal authorities’ step. Some welfare organizations have also vowed to stage a protest if the construction work is not stopped immediately.

Daska Bar Association President Malik Nazar Husain, Markazi Anjuman Tajran President Mian Muhammad Ashraf and Daska Engineering and Industrial Association chief Habibur Rehman Mughal, besides others, have protested against the construction of the disposal centre at the stadium. It would deprive hundreds of people of recreation in the shape of sports and morning walk.

They said the TMA’s decision smacked of ill-will against the public, as the stadium would become a hub of pollution.

Social circles said the decision to choose the only cricket stadium for disposal of city’s waste seemed all the more ridiculous when alternative tracts were available here.

They have urged President Gen Pervez Musharraf, Governor Khalid Maqbool and other provincial and district government higher-ups to immediately take stock of the situation.

When contacted, the TMA officials declined to comment.