BAHAWALPUR: Two university students were killed and as many others injured when the roof of a private girls hostel collapsed in Riaz Colony here on Saturday.

The hostel is located opposite the Government Sadiq College for Women University. It is learnt that with the continuous leakage of a water tank, the condition of the roof had become dilapidated.

Eyewitnesses said the roof collapsed when the water-filled tank burst. Four girls living in the room buried under the debris and according to District Emergency Officer Baqir Hussain, the rescuers pulled them out from the debris.

They were rushed to the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH) where two of them identified as Faiza Akhlaq, 19, and Saleh Munawwar, 21, were pronounced dead on arrival. Seriously injured Aisha Nawaz,19, and Majida Iqbal, 22, are under treatment.

The girls belonged to village 172-Murad in Chishtian tehsil of Bahawalnagar district.

The district emergency officer told Dawn the five-marla hostel building owned by Abdul Sattar had two portions.

On receipt of information of the incident, District Police Officer (DPO) Syed Muhammad Abbas rushed to the scene and ordered the Civil Lines station house officer to register a case against the building owner.

Meanwhile, caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi has expressed his deep sense of sorrow and grief over the death of the girl students.

He also ordered the Bahawalpur commissioner to submit an inquiry report. He also directed to provide the best treatment facilities to the injured students.

WHEAT PROCUREMENT: As the wheat procurement campaign is in full swing, 1.52 million metric tonnes of wheat out of a target of 2.26 million metric tonnes has so far been procured in south Punjab.

This was stated by South Punjab Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) retired Capt Saqib Zafar on Saturday.

Accompanied by Bahawalpur Deputy Commissioner Zaheer Anwar Juppa, the ACS said the Punjab government had fixed a target to purchase 4.27m metric tonnes of wheat from the whole province, while half of the target would be met from south Punjab.

He said 78pc of the target had been achieved in Bahawalpur division while the remaining target would be met from two divisions of Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan.

He directed the authorities to launch a crackdown on the elements involved in wheat hoarding and smuggling.

He also directed to provide maximum facilities to the growers fetching their produce to the procurement centres.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2023