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GUJRANWALA, May 3: Public transport vehicle owners, including Transport Society Gujranwala crew, took out a protest procession here on Friday against extortion on the GT Road in Ghakkhar and Wazirabad.
According to a report, Wazirabad tehsil Nazim Shaukat Manzoor awarded a contract for the collection of toll in Ghakkhar Town and Wazirabad. The contractor and his men started extorting Rs12 per trip from each bus, coaster and truck and Rs9 per trip from each wagon and pick-up without any notification.
It is stated that the tehsil Nazim had sent the case of toll to district Nazim Fiaz Ahmad Chattha for approval some two months back, but he reportedly refused to approve it. But the toll is being collected from transporters regularly without any legal cover, and according to an information the contractor had not deposited an amount of Rs400,000 with the Ghakkhar municipality regarding the toll income.
On the contrary, the tehsil Nazim got bulldozed the boundary wall of the Ghakkhar municipality and started construction of a wagon stand there. Later the court issued a stay order against the construction of the wagon stand and the regional transport authority secretary barred him to do so.
The protesters, led by TSG union vice-president Amjad Pervaiz, paraded on the GT Road and chanted slogans against the tehsil Nazim. They later dispersed peacefully when the district coordination officer assured them that their problems would be resolved shortly.
STRIKE: City tehsil council employees continued their token strike on Friday against manhandling of a storekeeper by the city tehsil Naib Nazim and his men.
They demanded that Naib Nazim Ehsanullah and his men should be arrested at the earliest.
Later they took out a protest procession and went to the Sabzi Mandi police station to ask them to arrest the accused immediately.
LOADSHEDDING: People have been facing problems due to unscheduled loadshedding here for the last two days.
Reports say power supply from some 14 feeders, including Cantonment and city feeders of Ghakkhar Town, is suspended by the Ghakkhar grid station simultaneously or turn by turn for one to two hours daily.
When contacted, a Ghakkhar grid station official said the loadshedding was being conducted on the directive of the National Resource Control Centre, Islamabad, under the load dispatch management as the utilization of power had increased with the start of summer.
People of remote areas, expressing resentment over unscheduled loadshedding, have demanded that it should be stopped immediately.
ARREST WARRANTS: The Banking Court No. 1, Gujranwala, issued arrest warrants for more than 60 defaulters besides issuing show-cause notices to five SHOs here on Friday.
These defaulters owed Rs6.5 million to various bank branches.
The court ordered police authorities to arrest them and produce them before the court on the next hearing.
The court also issued show-cause notices to five SHOs for not appearing in the court in connection with the pursuance of cases.
JAILED: An anti-corruption court awarded six-year imprisonment with a fine of Rs10,000 to the Hafizabad naib tehsildar in a corruption case here on Friday.
Rana Habibullah will have to undergo six-month hard jail if he fails to pay the fine.
According to the prosecution, the convict had verified fake documents regarding transfer of agricultural land of some farmers during his posting in Hafizabad in 1993.
