HYDERABAD, July 25: The Hyderabad District Council here on Thursday demanded of the railways department to repair the Gharib Nawaz Bridge and remove encroachments from there.

The house unanimously passed the resolution of Yousuf Qureshi to this effect with an addition by Hussain Bux Hussaini, concerning same condition of the Phuleli Bridge.

Qureshi said that since the construction of the Gharib Nawaz Bridge, no attention was ever paid to its repair with the result that its structure and railing were crumbling.

He said that the people had encroached upon the sides of the bridge where patchwork was causing fissures.

He said that being a federal subject, it was upto the railways department to take notice of it.

Hussaini made an addition in the resolution by inserting the issue of Phuleli Bridge which was also in decrepit condition.

The EDO, education, Qazi Zameer, attended the session and answered the queries of some members. The acting convener, Yousuf Siddiqui, had called the EDO when Abdul Qadeer Qazi on Wednesday had questioned the procedure for determination of award of scholarship to the students while there were vacations in the schools.

The EDO told the house that there were 482 scholarships for the students and the scholarships were divided into three categories. The poor primary girl students of rural area fell in first category and poor girl students of class six were kept in second category, the EDO said, adding that the third category was of the merit based scholarships for 300 students of sixth class, which were given after competitive examination. He said that 60 per cent merit scholarships were fixed for the girls and 40 per cent for the boys.

Syed Raza Shah proposed that keeping in view the number of the students of 102 union councils, four scholarships should be given to each UC.

To a query from Apa Badr-un-Nisa Qazi, the EDO said that construction of school in Safar Shidi village would begin soon.

The women councillors, including Shahnaz Baqi and Firdous Abro, staged a token walk out, saying their questions were not being answered.

Mohammad Yousuf Qureshi, the convener, works and services committee of the district council, presented three-month report of the committee.

He said that the he had written to the EDO, works and services, to supply the copies of tenders of development programmes, schedule-B and designs. He said that he had also issued reminders to the EDO following a meeting of the committee but to date the details had not been furnished.

The conduct of some members in the session remained non- serious. Calls by the convener to maintain discipline in the house remained unheeded by the members as Saira Naseer and Lala Zahid Pathan were seen reading newspapers while proceedings were in progress.

The session was adjourned to Friday.