BAHAWALPUR: The owners of 23 buildings have been served notices to install fire hydrants within the stipulated period failing which action against them would be taken by the district administration.

According to an official handout issued here on Wednesday, these notices were served on Wednesday on behalf of Deputy Commissioner Syed Hassan Raza.

The DC warned if building owners failed to install fire hydrants by Feb 28, their buildings would be sealed.

Chairing a meeting of district emergency board on Wednesday, the DC was told that as many as 33 fire hydrants had been installed at the private buildings in the district in addition to 13, seven and three installed by municipal corporation, Wasa and Haqqi centre, Bahawalpur, respectively.

BREACH: A 10-foot breach in the 6-L canal was plugged early on Wednesday morning following a joint operation by Rescue 1122 and the Irrigation Department.

According to Abid Rahim, a Rescue 1122 official, teams rushed to the scene before Sehr and alerted irrigation authorities, who arrived shortly after with heavy machinery. Officials immediately closed the canal at its head point. While the breach caused damage to standing wheat crops in the vicinity, Chief Engineer of the Bahawalpur Irrigation Zone, Muhammad Faisal Mushtaq, confirmed to Dawn that there were no casualties or damage to residential areas due to the rapid response.

MoU: The Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in China, on Tuesday.

According to an IUB press release, the MoU was signed by Dr. Muhammad Shahzad of IUB’s Department of Agricultural Extension Education and Director Prof. Zhang Dequan on behalf of Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences at Chengdu.

Under the MoU, strategic collaborations in sustainable agriculture between both nations would be promoted. The key areas of collaboration also included joint research and project submissions focusing on agronomy, plant breeding, horticulture, soil sciences, agricultural extension, food science & technology, ecology, environmental sciences and inter-cropping. Besides, academic exchange and mobility programmes for faculty, researchers, PhD scholars and undergraduate students would also be offered. This partnership will bridge traditional agricultural sciences with the advanced field of urban agriculture and yield solutions for sustainable food systems in both rural and urban landscapes, the release concluded.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2026