OKARA: Up to 259 growers were given Rs27 million altogether which the Abdullah Sugar Mills owed them since 2017 after the district administration sold 6,000 sugar bags (50kg per bag) of the mill.

Deputy Commissioner Amir Aqeeq Khan, Cane Commissioner Muhammad Zaman Wattoo, Additional DC Saba Asghar Ali and Assistant Commissioner Rana Aurang Zeb delivered cheques to growers.

The cane commissioner assured the growers the current crushing season amounts would be paid according to the scheduled payment programme.

RESCUE: Last month, Rescue 1122 received 51,035 calls in the district, and of them 1,879 were for emergencies and 47,861 irrelevant, an official handout said.

The Rescue 1122 district officials met at the central station. The meeting was presided over by Rescue district chief Zafar Iqbal. On average, 1,700 calls are received in a day and of them 63 are for emergencies.

Rescuers saved properties worth Rs5m in fire related incidents.

Up to 20 ambulances are providing services in the district at three main centers -- Okara, Dipalpur and Renal Khurd -- and subcentres -- Gogera, Noul Plot, Hujra Shah Muqeem, Mandi Ahmad Abad and Basirpur -- with average seven minutes response time to the called place.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2020