SIALKOT, April 28: Hundreds of the farmers have criticised the government for shortage of the gunny bags in Bajwat’s 85 bordering villages along the Sialkot Working Boundary.

Several wheat growers told reporters on Saturday they had informed Food Department officials many a times about the non-availability of bags but no measures had been taken yet by the government to resolve the issue. They said they faced difficulties in transporting their yield to wheat procurement centres due to the non-availability of the gunny bags. They appealed to federal, provincial and district governments to look into the matter. Food Department officials refused to comment on the issue.

Imran Masood: The Punjab government will soon launch a comprehensive ‘College Reforms Programme’ in the province.

Education Minister Mian Imran Masood was talking to newsmen in the cantonment here on Saturday after inaugurating a franchise of a mobile phone company. Sialkot district nazim Akmal Cheema was also present.

He said the provincial government would spend Rs5 billion for providing all the missing basic facilities in these colleges and for promotion of quality education.

Under the programme, the provincial education department would select four colleges from each district and make one of them a model college.

He said the principals and administrations of these four colleges would be delegated special powers to start classes in new subjects, including the subject of Sports Sciences.

Mr Masood said the provincial government was spending Rs70 billion annually on the promotion of education and this budget would be increased to Rs80 billion in the next fiscal year.

He said the government would soon recruit 34,000 teachers on contract basis to overcome their shortage in schools besides recruiting lecturers through the Public Service Commission.

He was optimistic that these steps would help enhance the literacy rate and reduce the dropout ratio in the schools and colleges.