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BAHAWALPUR, Sept 30: Several people fainted here on Saturday in Sabzi Mandi area after leakage of ammonia gas from a nearby cold storage.
Reports said scores of people, including women, were buying vegetables and fruits for Iftar at about noon. Suddenly, gas leakage started from one of the cold storages, forcing people to leave the area without their belongings. Scores of customers sought refuge in nearby shops and houses. Many reportedly fainted and were provided help by the people of adjoining areas.
Meanwhile, Dawn learnt that some of the cold storages were illegally running their business adjacent to the vegetable market, but the tehsil municipal administration had not taken action against them.
When contacted, a civil lines police official told this correspondent that they could not take action as no one had lodged any complaint against cold storages.
It was learnt that the local population had been demanding for a year to shift the Sabzi Mandi and cold storages outside the city near Karachi Morr. But cold storage owners had been opposing it as they were having a roaring business here.
BCCI POLLS: Chaudhry Abdul Jabbar was elected president of Bahawalpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) after a tough contest here on Saturday.
Mr Jabbar of the district nazim group secured seven votes against his rival Chaudhry Mahmood Majeed who got six out of a total of 13 votes.
Later, addressing the general body meeting, the newly-elected president assured the members to work for solution of their problems. He urged the government to announce tax holiday for Bahawalpur’s new units and declare it zero duty zone to encourage investment in three districts of the chamber.
DIG: Bahawalpur range DIG Ghulam Haider Marth has warned that strict action will be taken against the SHOs who decline to register FIRs.
Presiding over a meeting held here on Saturday to review crime situation, he directed the officers to control the rising street crime. The meeting was told that 6,400 challans were submitted to courts out of a total of 8,860 cases registered during nine months of the current calendar year in the district.
