BAHAWALPUR: Taking notice of alleged illegal cutting of dozens of precious trees at the Lal Suhanra National Park, Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb ordered transfer of 11 forest department officials of Bahawalpur and Multan divisions and made them officers on special duty (OSD).

On the orders of Ms Aurangzeb, the Punjab forest department on Friday issued transfer orders of Chief Conservator (South Zone) Khalid Mehmood (BS-20), Multan, Conservator Sheikh Manzoor Ahmed (BS-19), Bahawalpur Division, District Forest Officer (DFO) Nadeem Ashraf (BS-18), Lal Suhanra National Park, and eight others. They were made OSD.

The senior minister ordered the transfers after taking notice of the complaint regarding the alleged ruthless cutting of about six dozen rare and precious trees. She was quoted as sayingthat strict action would be taken against the officials involved in illegal cutting of precious trees in the national park.

The other officials who were transferred included Hammad Raza (BS-16) Sub Divisional Officer of the park, Mumtaz Hussain, Range Officer, Muhammad Saeed, Forester and Muhammad Shafique, Sohail Anwar, Naved Akhtar, Sajjad Ahmed and Arif Niazi, all BS-9 forest guards.They have been directed to report to the department.It is learnt that an anti-corruption team of the forest department has reached here to initiate a probe into the matter.

The national park is on world tourism list and comprises 127,480 acres, including forest area and desert. It is irrigated by canal water.

KILLED: A 70-year-old retired army officer died after being hit by a motorcycle, while 10 passengers of a coach suffered injuries, six of them seriously, when it overturned, in two separate incidents in the district on Friday.

According to Rescue 1122, Mubashir Ali (70), a retired major was crossing a road at One-Unit Chowk in Bahawalpur, when he was hit by a speeding motorcyclist.

Police reached the scene and took legal action against the motorcyclist.

In the other incident, an AC coach (LYS-1655) going to Hasilpur from Vehari overturned near Islam Headworks and fell into a deep ravine after its driver dozed off.

As a result, the coach passengers, Abdullah, Shahzaib, Younus and Surraiya Bibi, Ayesha Bibi and Samina Bibi, were injured seriously and shifted to Hasilpur THQ Hospital, Four other passengers who suffered minor injuries were rendered first aid at the scene of the accident by Rescue 1122 team.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2024