February 23, 2008	Saturday	Safar 15, 1429

HYDERABAD, Feb 22: Paintings made by Ali Abbas Jafri have been displayed at an exhibition held at the Centre of Excellence in Arts and Design, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro.

Mr Jafri, a noted artist and the head of the Fine Arts department, has painted the living conditions of the people and highlighted the culture of Pakistan and poverty of the country.

Mehran University vice-chancellor Dr A.Q.K. Rajput inaugurated the exhibition.

The vice-chancellor on the occasion said that the students of the centre were lucky to have such a teacher to guide them in their work.

He said 50 per cent population of the country was living a life of below the poverty line and lauded the efforts of the artist in highlighting the miseries of destitute people.

These paintings amount to a crusade against poverty, the vice-chancellor said.

HESCO DUES: Chief Executive Officer of Hesco Guftar Anjum has said that a huge amount of Rs21 billion was outstanding against the domestic consumers and government organisation and added that the Hesco was a commercial organisation and therefore it has to recover these outstanding dues.

He said this while attending a briefing about the performance of the officials and staff of operation circle-I of Hyderabad for the month of January 2008, here on Thursday.

Giving details, he said that an amount of Rs13.2 billion was outstanding against domestic consumers, Rs548 million against federal government organizations and Rs7.323 billion against Sindh government organisations.

About development schemes, he said Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) had completed 1681 projects during the last financial year and 870 projects during the current financial year.