BAHAWALPUR, Aug 12: The Bahawalpur tehsil council at a meeting here on Thursday lodged protest with the Punjab government for not restoring the Public Health Engineering Department's headquarters in Bahawalpur , and downgrading a local office.

The tehsil council, through a resolution, appealed to Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi to review the matter and shift the restored PHED headquarters from Rahim Yar Khan to Bahawalpur.

The house, which met under the chair of Naib Nazim Malik Zahid Mahmood Channar, decided to send a delegation of tehsil councillors to Lahore to apprise the CM of the step-motherly treatment being meted to Bahawalpur.

It is pertinent to mention that earlier the district council at its recently-held meeting had also protested against the restoration of PHED office in Rahim Yar Khan and demanded that it should be shifted to Bahawalpur.

With the introduction of the district government system in 2002, the PHED along with some other departments had been merged with other organizations. However, realizing the department's utility for the proper supervision of drainage and water supply system, the Punjab government had announced its restoration in all the districts.

The local headquarters was shifted to Rahim Yar Khan where an executive engineer will supervise projects of the former division. The Bahawalpur district will be looked after by a PHED officer of the rank of a sub-divisional officer.

BAR COUNCILS ACT: The District Bar Association at a meeting on Thursday opposed the proposed amendments to the Pakistan Bar Councils Act. The meeting, chaired by president Malik Saeed Ijaz, urged the government to protect the rights of lawyers and refrain from amending the act.