BAHAWALPUR: A refrigerator mechanic and his assistant were killed while another suffered injuries in a gas cylinder blast at Basti Kotawala in the suburbs of Tibba Sultanpur in district Vehari.

According to details, Mehran Shah was decanting gas from a cylinder into the compressor of a refrigerator when the cylinder exploded. Mehran was killed on the spot while his two assistants, Arsalan and Zubair, suffered serious burns.

They were shifted to the Tibba Sultanpur hospital where the doctors allegedly did not attend them. Arsalan was being shifted to the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH) when he succumbed to his wounds on the way. The condition of Zubair was also stated to be serious.

TEXTBOOKS: As the new academic year in schools has begun, the Punjab Textbook Board could not provide free textbooks to all the students of the public schools who faced a great deal of inconvenience.

Dawn learnt that due to unavailability of free textbooks, the students from nursery to matric were affected. Their parents also expressed concerns, saying that some textbooks were available but the education department did not provide others.

The officials of the School Education Department confirmed to Dawn that the first consignment of textbooks was received by the public schools in the first week of the current month but the supply did not continue. As a result, a majority of students were still without textbooks.

The officials expressed hope that the second consignment of free textbooks would be made available to schools in the near future.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2024