July 16, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 19, 1427

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FAISALABAD, July 15: At least 29 more gastroenteritis patients were shifted on Saturday to a Health department’s makeshift hospital in Roshan Sali village in Lundianwala area, Jaranwala tehsil.

The Health department has advised the people of Lundianwala and its adjoining villages not to use the underground water for being brackish and unfit for human consumption.

Special teams, headed by district health officer Rana Imran, have set up their camp offices in the area to provide free medical facilities to the affected people. In addition, mobile teams have also been constituted which would visit the adjoining areas.

On the instructions of Nazim Rana Zahid Tauseef, the city district government has distributed hundreds of bottles of “clean potable water” to the area people.

Although health officials confirmed a marked increase in the number of patients, they reported no casualty from any part of Jaranwala town during the last 24 hours. Six people, including two women, had lost their lives due to gastroenteritis in Lundianwala area during the last four days.

ALLEGATION: The escape of three women from the Social Welfare Department’s hostel took a serious turn when victims leveled charges of torture and misbehavior against the duty staff.

Social Welfare district officer Abdul Qudoos Akhtar has ordered an inquiry into the matter and suspended/transferred two women hostel’s employees in People’s Colony, Faisalabad.

Reports said that Raheela, the wife of Imran (Faisalabad), Kulsoom, the wife of Sadabahar (Multan) and Ramzan Bibi, the wife of Salamat (Kasur), escaped after climbing the hostel’s boundary wall. The hostel administration reported the matter to the police, which rushed to the hostel and started interrogation.

Lady police inspector Zahida Parveen had been assigned the task to trace the three women. Special police teams after some hectic efforts recovered all the three escapees from a house on Canal Road.

The recovered women, in their statement to police, claimed that they were being tortured and misbehaved by the hostel staff, particularly the watchman. They also leveled the charge of negligence against the newly posted hostel in charge, Mian Nawaz.

These women, who were shifted again to the hostel, would be presented before a local court.

The Social Welfare DO deputed DDO Muhammad Ashraf as inquiry officer and suspended watchman Shoaib and transferred peon Sharif for negligence of duty.

SPECIAL MAGISTRATES: Nine officers of the local administration, including the district coordination officer, have been delegated powers of special magistrates to check the rising trend of price hike.