BAHAWALPUR: Three persons, including a woman, were booked for allegedly attacking, abusing and issuing death threats to two polio vaccinators’ teams in the Cantonment and Khairpur Tamewali police areas.

According to police and health department officials, the first attack occurred at the Muhammadi Colony. The first information report (FIR), lodged by Deputy District Health Officer(DDHO) Dr Syed Imtiaz Sardar, said a health department’s team, comprising Uzma and Usman, went to administer polio drops to children in Muhammadi Colony where Roshi, the wife of one Ismail, attacked them. She verbally abused the vaccinators, threatened to kill them, smashed the vaccine carrier on the floor and refused to let the vaccinators administer drops to her children.

On receiving information, the health officials reached the scene and tried to pacify the woman but she continued with her verbal abuse and threats.

The second incident took place in Khairpur city where health workers, Saira Bibi, Hussain Bibi and Zafar Iqbal, along with DDHO Attiqur Rehman and tehsildar Muhammad Hussain and Constable Muhammad Akram were allegedly attacked by Muhammad Shehbaz and Muhammad Faraz when the team members went to vaccinate their children at Saudia Chowk in Khairpur city.

Polio workers hold demo against attacks

The team members and officials tried to convince them but both men were furious and they continued to verbally abuse the officials and threatened to kill them. An FIR on the complaint of monitoring officer Ghulam Mujtaba was registered against Shehbaz and Faraz.

PRO to the DPO Jam Sajid told Dawn that all three suspects, including the woman, had managed to seek interim bail before arrest from courts.

A large number of the health workers staged a demonstration at DPO Chowk in protest against the attacks on the health department teams.

The health workers, most of them women, were carrying placards to condemn the attacks on their colleagues. They demanded arrest of the alleged attackers, punishment to them and provision of security to the polio workers.

During the demonstration, Commissioner Asif Iqbal Chaudhry passed through the chowk and stopped his vehicle. He talked with the protesters and reprimanded them for not approaching him first to resolve the matter.

However, later the protesters’ delegation called on the commissioner in his office who directed the deputy commissioner to resolve their issue. Deputy Commissioner Muzzafar Khan Sial assured the health workers that they demands would be met.

TROTTERS: The officials of police, livestock and food authority claimed to have seized about 20 maunds of unwholesome trotters (of big animals and arrested two persons from the scene.

The stale trotters were being transported from Karachi to Bahawalpur to supply to restaurants.

The stinking trotters were transported in sacks by a bus and were handed over to butcher Imran and Abdul Majid, a rickshaw driver at Baghoochiwali Pul of the canal near Baghdadul Jadid railway station. The officials arrested both Imran and Majid.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2020