SUKKUR, April 12 The district government fired a month ago 18 gardeners, sweepers and guards who had been hired to maintain a green belt and two-kilometre long jogging track near Circuit House on the right bank of the River Indus and let the green strip fall into decay.

The grass and flower beds have dried up and people, who used to frequent the area for jogging and inhaling some fresh air have started avoiding it because of the dust, which has replaced the greenery.

Besides grass beds on the ground, saplings of different flowers and plants had been planted and four bathrooms were constructed to facilitate people.

The district government fired at least 18 gardeners, sweepers and guards fired for the upkeep of the green belt and jogging track on the pretext of shortage of funds.

An officer of the district government said on condition of anonymity blamed lack of funds for sacking the employees. The government had spent millions of rupees on the green belt and jogging track, he said.

He said that the Sukkur DCO had huge amount of discretionary funds at his disposal and he should come forward to save the green belt and the track.

Syed Mujtaba Shah, Nisar Ahmed, Pervaiz Ahmed and Mrs Tanveer, regular visitors of green belt and jogging track, said that the green belt and jogging track were a blessing for the people who were forced to inhale fine dust particles with every breath.

But now the green belt and jogging track had also started resembling the roads of the city, they said.

They demanded that the DCO should arrange funds for the upkeep of green belt and jogging track on a regular basis.