BAHAWALPUR: The district administration claimed to have foiled an attempt to smuggle around 11,000 maunds of wheat worth about Rs4,200 million out of Bahawalpur district on 12 trucks.

According to Deputy Commissioner Zaheer Anwar Jappa, food department officials in a raid seized 12 wheat-laden trucks being used by a gang of middlemen, belonging to different areas of the country, to smuggle the commodity to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and onward to Afghanistan.

He said the food officials had reports that a gang of middlemen had made heavy payments in advance to the farmers and local traders, even before wheat harvesting, to buy the yield and sell it in KP or Afghanistan on higher profits.

He said as there is a ban on inter-district transportation of wheat, the food officials remain vigilant and keep monitoring the situation in the district.

12 KP-bound trucks impounded

He said the drivers had been arrested, and the trucks were impounded, adding that the food officials have referred the matter to police for registration of cases against them.

The impounded wheat had been moved to the food department godown, he added.

PROTEST: Wheat growers staged a protest demonstration at the canal bridge linking Bahawalpur with Yazman against the delayed payments by some banks for their produce procured by Bahawalpur food department.

The protesting farmers blocked the Yazman-Bahawalpur road and demanded timely payments by banks at Yazman.

burnt: A housewife suffered serious burns in a gas blast in the kitchen of her house in Mohajir Colony on Hasilpur Road on Tuesday.

According to Rescue 1122, the gas oven in the kitchen of the house was left turned on on Monday night. When the woman, Ms Samina, tried to ignite the oven, the gas accumulated in the kitchen caused a massive blast.

As a result, the woman suffered serious burns and was shifted to the emergency ward of the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH). According to the doctors, she suffered 80 percent burns and her condition was critical.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2023