OKARA, March 20: Citizens have called upon the Sui gas authority to establish its regional office in Okara as the town is situated in the heart of the district while work on supplying gas is going on in its adjoining areas, including, Pattoki and Habibabad (Wan Radha Ram).

In addition to these areas, work on gas supply in Deepalpur, Haveli Lakkha and Hujra Shah Muqeem is also underway. The district has some 20,000 gas consumers in the district while as many applicants are in line to get connections.

Due to the shortage of field staff and vehicles, the people have to wait for a long period to get the facility as recruitments in the Sui gas department have not been made since 1996.

Work on a large scale for the gas supply is going on in all three Okara district tehsils with the cooperation of special funds allocated by Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal.

The Okara district has the biggest network and sufficient funds and the industrial area as compared to its adjoining districts. But, the people of Okara has to travel to Sahiwal even for the demand notice in the absence of the regional office.

For the establishment of Sui gas regional office in Okara, a delegation of the local chamber of commerce and industry, led by its president Arshad Iqbal, called on the defence minister.

The delegation also asked highups of the House Building Finance Corporation and Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) to shift their district offices from Sahiwal to Okara.