August 03, 2006	Thursday	Rajab 7, 1427

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SIALKOT, Aug 2: Four children were killed in a roof collapse incident on Ghazi Road on Wednesday evening. Electrician Shahid Rafiq has been living in the servant quarters of an old house of exporter Najeebullah since long.

Shahid’s children Aqsa, 5, Aamina, 4, and four-day-old Ali Raza and his niece Rashida, 6, were playing in a room when the roof collapsed as a result of which they died on the spot.

The Sialkot DCO and other officials reached the spot. The DCO announced Rs20,000 compensation for the family.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi expressed condolence over this tragedy and prayed for the eternal peace of the departed souls.

The Sialkot Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA), in the meantime, has declared 37 commercial and residential buildings as dangerous in the city’s various localities. The owners of these buildings have not yet vacated them despite issuance of notices by the TMA.

WELFARE BUREAU: The Punjab government has announced establishment of child protection and welfare bureau in Sialkot district.

DCO Rizwanullah Baig told journalists on Wednesday that the main purpose of establishing this institution was to ensure eradication of child beggary and to safeguard the rights of the destitute children. Unicef and the local business community are the key collaborators in the project.

He said the provincial government would also establish a child protection court in the district for providing complete legal cover to the lost, missing, runaway and kidnapped children.

FLOOD PREVENTION: The district government is implementing a flood prevention plan to save urban and rural areas of Sialkot from imminent flood.

District Nazim Muhammad Akmal Cheema told newsmen on Wednesday that the district had been divided into 18 sectors and 35 sub-sectors under the plan. As many as 31 flood relief centres had been set up.

All the concerned departments, he said, had been put on high alert as the district government was monitoring the flood situation round the clock. A district flood control centre, too, had been established.

MARK-UP: Surgical Instrument Manufacturers Association of Pakistan chairman Naeem Anwar Qureshi has expressed grave concern over high mark-up rate for the exporters.

In a talk with reporters, he said the surgical exporters were already facing financial problems and an increase in the mark-up was worsening the situation for them.