FAISALABAD, Aug 3: A number of motorcycle rickshaw drivers along with their vehicles took out a rally here on Tuesday and blocked traffic in protest against the district government's decision to ban them on certain routes.

Carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the district administration, they moved along different city roads. The demonstrators blocked traffic on Jhal-Khanuanan intersection, GTS intersections, Railway Road, Circular Road, Katchery Road, and some others parts of the city by parking their vehicles.

They alleged that some influential transporters groups wanted their monopoly and were responsible for the ban. A regional transport authority spokesman claimed that the ban on motorcycle rickshaws had been imposed for smooth traffic flow.

ROOF COLLAPSES: Three labourers sustained injuries when the roof of a power loom factory caved in here on Monday night at Raja Ghulam Rasoolnagar. Reports said about two dozen workers of a powerloom factory, owned by one Abdul Rahseed, were working in a spinning hall when its roof collapsed. As a result, Rehman, Asif and Nazir Ahmed sustained serious wounds. They were shifted to the DHQ hospital.