March 19, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 10, 1429

TOBA TEK SINGH, March 18: There is no end in sight to the waiting of industrial workers who applied for plots in a housing colony launched by the Housing and Physical Planning Department in Kamalia in 1992. The department spent millions of rupees on roads and water and sewerage lines at the site demarcated for the colony more than 16 years ago, but did not allot plots to applicants and later abandoned work on the housing scheme. As a result, the roads and other infrastructure built at the colony was destroyed and the money spent was wasted.

The abandoned colony, which has more than 4,000 plots of three marla each, has now become a haven for criminals and drug addicts. A Housing and Physical Planning Department official claimed the project was launched on the direction of the Punjab Labour Department and it was the same department’s responsibility to allot plots to the applicants.

RALLY: Hundreds of female activists of the Tehrik Minhajul Quran took out a rally in Kamalia on Tuesday to protest republication of blasphemous caricatures by Danish newspapers.

The rally began from Old Police Station Chowk, marched through various roads and streets and concluded at the Committee Chowk. Speaking on the occasion, the tehrik’s representative Begum Zahida Munir said it was a pity that Muslim rulers were silent on the caricatures issue. She demanded that the government immediately cut diplomatic relations with Denmark and people boycott Danish products.

INQUIRY: In response to a resolution passed recently by the district council against the relaying of ‘objectionable’ TV channels by cable operators, District Coordination Officer Nawazish Ali has formed a committee to investigate the issue. The committee will be headed by Executive District Officer for Community Development Chaudhry Abdul Majeed. District Bar Association President Mian Shoaib Muhammad, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz representative Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Rabbani, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal representative Mian Abdul Basit, Union Council 55 Nazim Dr Maqbool Ahmad, Press Club President Mian Manzoor Naz, Mahboob Akbar, Javed Sattar, Tahir Mahmood and Jabbar Tahir are members of the committee.