SIALKOT, Nov 23: Two people were killed and four others were injured when a bus plunged into dried up Marala Ravi Link (MRL) Canal near Chhaangi village in Satrah police precincts on Sunday.

The bus (FDN-4521) was going from Gujranwala to Baddo Malhi when the driver lost control over steering while negotiating a turn and it plunged into the canal.

Locals and the police rescued the passengers. Muhammad Anwar, 60, and Sakeena Bibi, 45, died on the spot while four others received injuries and were shifted to a hospital. The police registered a case, with no arrest so far.

The MRL Canal was closed three months ago due to shortage of water in the River Chenab after India started storing it in Baglihar Dam.filtration plants: Most water filtration plants in Sialkot, Daska and Sambrial are out of order for quite some time because of the negligence of officials.

As a result, people are forced to drink contaminated water.

The district administration admits the water filtration plants project has flopped. DCO Atta Muhammad Khan said the problem was investigated recently and it was found that contactors used substandard material in these plants. Moreover, these plants were not installed as deep as they should have been.

He said the Public Health Engineering Department and district and tehsil administrations failed to rectify the problem. He said the district government handed over these filtration plants to Daska, Sambrial and Sialkot tehsil administrations, without allocating funds for their repair or deploying staff for their maintenance.