SIALKOT, Dec 23: The Indian security forces on Sunday evening shelled Sukmaal sector of the Sialkot working boundary and damaged the standing paddy crops.

Earlier, the Chenab Rangers thwarted two more major Indian attempts of fencing Bajwat and Sucheetgarh sectors.

Official sources said the rangers turned the tables on Indians, destroying three big defensive pillars.

Sialkot-based UN observers visited the working boundary to check rising atrocities of the Indian army, the sources added.

Meanwhile, the Indians continued shelling in Chhumb, Joriyaan, Bajwat, Chaprar, Harpal, Bajragarhi, Kingra, Charwa, Jammu, Sucheetgarh, Akhnor, Oori, Zafarwal, Paniyola and Shakargarh sectors, damaging several houses.

Emergent troop movement on both sides of the working boundary on Sunday continued without respite.

Sialkot EPZ: The allotment of plots to the business community in the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) here has started.

The allotment is being made through the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI).

Project coordinator Dr Muhammad Aslam Dar told newsmen on Sunday that allotment of more than 900 commercial plots of different sizes at the Sialkot EPZ would be made through phased token balloting. However, the personal liking or disliking of the applicants would also be considered.

Under the first phase, token balloting was held at the SCCI for front and corner plots.

Dr Dar said that after 15 years the Sialkot EPZ was completed. He lauded the efforts of Sialkot business community in this regard.

The project has been completed at a cost of over Rs110 million. The custom house and administration block had already been constructed.

He claimed that Gepco provided free of cost electricity supply facilities to the Sialkot EPZ. The PTCL has also established a 500-line digital telephone exchange here without any charges.

The SNGPL has also laid a free of cost gas supply line from Sublime Chowk, Sialkot city, to the EPZ near Sambrial (Daska) and from Daska city to the EPZ via Bhopalwala and Sambrial. This supply line will also benefit all adjoining villages and other areas.

Speaking on the occasion, District Nazim said that on the demand of the SCCI to declare Sialkot, Daska, Gujranwala and Gujrat districts as an export triangle, the government constituted a committee for preparing a feasibility report.

It may be mentioned that development work on the EPZ, spreading over an area of 240 acres, is now in full swing. It is the second biggest zone in the country being set up by the Export Processing Zone Authority, the Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC) and the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI).