BAHAWALPUR: A lawyer has moved District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Rashid Qamar seeking a ban on the shifting of birds and animals from the local zoo to other such facilities in other cities.

Petitioner Shahid Gill stated in the petition that birds were being shifted from the local zoo to other cities but no such gesture was reciprocated which resulted in the shrinking population of birds and animals at the local zoo.

The court summoned the Punjab Wildlife director general on April 25.

The department on the directives of its director general shifted a number of birds and animals from the zoo to other cities in the province under an exchange program.

The zoo has been without any elephant due to less allocation of funds by the Punjab Wildlife Department. This year, Rs16.5 million was sanctioned for the zoo which is not enough to buy an elephant.

Zoo curator Iftikhar Ahmed told Dawn that the administration would re-advertise the tender.

CORRUPTION CASE: The 13 officials of the building department arrested late on Tuesday by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) were in fact summoned for a probe into alleged corruption in the Lodhran District Headquarters Hospital.

Dawn learnt that during the last month, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had visited Lodhran and ordered a probe into the alleged corruption in the installation of machinery and construction of the hospital. The Multan ACE absolved the officials of charges.

Later, experts from the Lahore Engineering and Technology University inspected the hospital and said millions were embezzled in the construction of the hospital.

On the basis of the report, the ACE booked 28 officials. The Bahawalpur ACE summoned the accused on the pretext of interrogation, but arrested and sent them to the Lodhran police station late on Tuesday.

Some of the arrested people were on interim bail while former EDO Dr Asif Ali fell sick in the ACE office and was rushed to Bahawal Victoria Hospital.

GUNNY BAGS: The food department distributed over 1.3 million gunny bags in the last two days among the wheat growers in the district.

At a meeting, chief minister’s Adviser Rai Haider Ali said 28 wheat procurement centres were set up in the district and by May 5 the target of over 600,000 ton wheat would be met.