BAHAWALPUR: The Punjab housing secretary suspended the Lodhran Wasa managing director from service and got a case registered against three officials after two sewer men died while cleaning an under-ground sewer line at Jajalpur Mor.

Taking notice of the incident, the Punjab housing secretary ordered immediate action against the officials concerned. Police registered a case against three Wasa officials, including the managing director, and departmental proceedings were initiated against them.

According to an official handout, the tragedy occurred on Tuesday night when Wasa employee Wasim Masih and a private helper, Ikram Dogar, descended into a sewer line for cleaning work and fell unconscious. Upon receiving information, Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ashraf rushed to the spot and shifted the workers to the DHQ Hospital, Lodhran, where both were pronounced dead.

Sources said the workers had entered the main sewer line without proper safety gear and equipment. The DC ordered an inquiry into the incident and the alleged negligence of Wasa officials.

City Lodhran police, on the complaint of deceased worker Wasim Masih’s father Salim Masih, registered a first information report under Section 322 of the PPC against Wasa Managing Director Javed Akhtar, Site In-charge Roshan Rehan and Supervisor Ali Raza. None of the suspects had been arrested till the filing of this report.

The handout further stated that the managing director had been suspended from service and an inquiry under the Peeda Act had been initiated against the three officials.

FIRE: A major fire damaged around eight acres of forest land worth millions of rupees in the Meeranpur forest area near Jallah Arian on Multan Road late on Tuesday night.

According to Rescue 1122 Media Coordinator Muhammad Safdar, firefighting teams and ambulances were dispatched immediately after receiving an emergency call following Maghrib prayers. Firefighters found the blaze spreading at two locations in the forest and, with the assistance of forest department officials, battled the flames for more than two hours before bringing the fire under control.

However, extensive damage had already been caused to the forest area. The exact cause of the fire could not be determined, though officials suspect that a lit cigarette thrown by a passerby may have ignited the dry vegetation. The forest department authorities have yet to issue an official statement regarding the cause of the fire.

MURDER: A man was allegedly shot dead at his house in Basti Balochan, Mauza Arian, near Channigoth Bypass on Wednesday.

Police said Ali Akbar had an old enmity with Hamza, a resident of the same village. The suspect allegedly entered Akbar’s house while he was asleep and opened fire before fleeing the scene.

The injured man was shifted to the Rural Health Centre (RHC), Channigoth, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Channigoth police reached the scene, shifted the body for postmortem examination and registered a case against the suspect, who remained at large.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2026