DADU, Sept 3: Police have arrested four contractors of the Manchhar Lake for collecting illegal tax and snatching fish from the Mohanas on Tuesday.

Scores of fishermen belonging to Tehni, Shah Hassan, Abdul Rehman and other villages complained to the chief minister, Sindh, that the contractors of Manchhar Lake, Mohammad Hashim Mallah, and his three partners were collecting illegal taxes and forcibly taking fish from them in spite of abolition of the contractual system in the Manchhar Lake.

The Sindh chief minister directed the DPO, operation, Dadu, Ali Akbar Bhangwar, to deploy police and have the contractors arrested.

A heavy contingent of police, led by DPO Ali Akbar Bhangwar, conducted raids at Tehni, Shah Hassan, Abdul Rehman and other villages and arrested Mohammad Hashim Mallah and his three partners.

Police also seized nets and other material used for fishing.

The DPO ordered that police patrol the lake on boats. He also had three police pickets set up in the vicinity of the lake.

He said that on the directives of the chief minister the contractual system was abolished, and added that if any contractor tried to receive illegal taxes or fish catch from the fishermen, he would be arrested.

DEMO: Earlier, a large number of fishermen, led by Anwar Mallah and Akbar Mallah, held a demonstration against the contractors at the lake bund, near Bubak.

RELIEF: Relief goods worth Rs4 million, donated by the Bahrain Army for the rain-affected people, are being distributed in the district.

The consul general of Bahrain, Jamil Abdul Salam Abdul Wahab, said on Wednesday that goods included 4500 packets of flour, ghee, oil, sugar, pulses, and medicine of which 500 relief packets were distributed among the fishermen of Manchhar Lake and 300 packets among the people of Siyal village in Dadu taluka.

He said his government would continue to maintain good relations with Pakistan and increase the level of trade between the two countries.

He was speaking to newsmen at the circuit house. The GOC Hyderabad, DCO, Aijaz Mangi, Taluka Nazim, Syed Zafar Ali Shah were present.

He said the Bahrain government would extend all kind of financial help to fishermen of the Manchhar Lake for their rehabilitation.

The GOC told journalists that the Pakistan Army with the help of civil administration would provide relief goods to people in remote areas of Kachho and Katcho.

MADIR-I-MILLAT TRAIN: The Madir-i-Millat Train arrived at the Dadu railway station on Wednesday.