BAHAWALPUR, May 6: The government will extend its scheme of marketing cotton free from contamination to Bahawalpur.

Punjab agriculture secretary Junaid Iqbal Qureshi held out this assurance to ginners and members of the Bahawalpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) here on Monday.

BCCI president Chaudhry Jamil Tahir told Dawn that the provincial secretary had conveyed them that the government had decided to include the district in the areas producing cotton free from contamination.

The scheme was introduced last year from the Rahim Yar Khan district as a pilot project.

He said the secretary was conveyed reservations of cotton growers who were not paid premium on clean cotton as promised by millers and the government

LAWYER ARRESTED: Ahmedpur East police claimed arresting a Rahim Yar Khan lawyer for allegedly patronizing bandits who committed Rs0.7 million dacoity at NBP’s Mauza Kotla Musa Khan branch near Uch Sharif on Sunday.

Muhammad Shafique was taken into custody on the disclosure of the arrested dacoit, Sharif, who sustained injuries when a police party had intercepted the fleeing dacoits. His three accomplices however managed to escape with the booty.

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