GUJRANWALA, March 29: Nazims, councillors and local residents at a session on Saturday expressed grief over the death of a minor girl due to furnace emissions, at her home on the Muslim Road.

The session was convened by union council 46 Nazim Khalifa Muhammad Munawar Butt.

Adopting a unanimous resolution, they demanded the city tehsil council and other relevant departments to order shifting of furnaces outside the city to avoid smoke hazards in congested areas.

The participants expressed concern over environment pollution spreading through smoke of the furnaces. They observed that more than 50 small furnaces were being run on the populous Muslim Road, Hafizabad Road, Sheikhupura Road, Shaheenabad, Garjakh, Khiali Shahpur and Ferozewala Road, and the authorities concerned had failed to shift these outside the district.

Before concluding the session, they recalled that residents of Khiali attacked a paper mill owner a few months ago when he failed to stop emissions.

DEATH SENTENCE: A sessions court on Saturday handed down death sentence on three counts and a fine of Rs500,000 to five dacoits-cum-killers.

According to the prosecution, convicts Muhammad Shahid, Irshad Ahmad, Mushtaq Ahmad, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Ashraf, killed three employees of a soft drink company when they resisted the dacoity bid at Eminabad morr two years ago.

The company’s employees were Muhammad Afzal, Muhammad Fayyaz, son of Barkat Ali, and Muhammad Fayyaz, son of Fakhardin.

SUICIDE: A jobless man and a girl ended their lives by taking poison in different parts of the district on Saturday.

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