LAHORE, Feb 14: In a massive crackdown on Thursday, the City District Government of Lahore sealed 19 Sheesha cafes operating in various localities of the provincial metropolis despite a ban.

The CDGL teams also confiscated 61 huqaas (sheesha smoking pipes).

The cafes sealed include Thunder Café (Mughalpura), Garrison-Line Cafe and Hello Bean (Samanabad), Chili Café (Shalimar Link Road), White Smoke Café (Shahdara), Kukoo Café (Barki Road), Red-Line (Hussain Chowk, Gulberg), Vampire Lounge (Shadbagh), Ex-Lounge Café (Raiwind Road), Safron Café (Shaukat Ali Road), Red Planet (Amer Road) and Rangoon Café (Cavalry Ground). The CDGL administrator/DCO has warned officials as well as cafe owners to avoid de-sealing outlets or else action will be taken against them.

JASHAN-I-BAHARAN: The City District Government of Lahore will organise a Jashan-i-Baharan Open Badminton Tournament in the city from Feb 26 under the aegis of the District Sports Gala.

According to the CDGL, the three-day tournament will be played at Iqbal Park Sports Complex and registration for participation will be made till Feb 23 at the office of the DO (Sports).

EMPLOYEES: The work-charged employees of the CDGL, who fulfill the criteria approved by the Local Government Department, will be regularised.

According to CDGL’s senior officials, a team led by the additional district collector (general) has been constituted to scrutinise the record of all work-charged employees in this regard.

FINE: Price control magistrates conducted on Wednesday as many as 481 inspections of different shops to check prices of different commodities.

They challaned 94 shopkeepers and imposed a fine of Rs64,400 on others for overcharging and hoarding.

The officials also got registered cases against five shopkeepers.

SHOPS AUCTIONED: The Lahore Development Authority claimed on Thursday to have sold 23 newly-built shops at Sabzazar Cricket Stadium at more than the double the reserved price.

In an open auction held here in Muslim Town, the LDA sold entire shops for Rs103.15 million whereas reserved price for these had been evaluated as Rs49.9 million, said an LDA spokesman in a statement.

The maximum bid was offered for shop No.1, which was auctioned for Rs5.6 million whereas its reserved price was set at Rs2.3 million.

The minimum bid of Rs3.8 million was offered for the shop No.20 against its reserved price of Rs2 million.

As many as 122 bidders, who had deposited pay orders of the requisite amount for participation in the auction, took part in the auction amid tough competition.

For ensuring transparency, journalists had also been invited to witness the auction proceedings.

LDA auction committee members, including Estate Management-I director Muhammad Numan Khan, Land Development-I director Imran Raza Abbasi, Land Development-II director Liaquat Randhawa, Land Development IV director Rizwan Nazir, Director Finance Zaheer Asghar Rana and Estate Management director of Quaid-i-Azam Rafiq Malhi, supervised the auction proceedings, the spokesman said.