MULTAN: The provincial government has allocated Rs2.81 billion to plant olive trees in the Pothohar valley, Additional Secretary on Agriculture Task Force Ahmed Ali Zaffar told reporters on Saturday.

“The vision of the provincial government is to convert the agriculture into such a sector that it not only has the capacity to meet the challenges of food security but its products also compete in the international market,” he said.

He said the provincial government had initiated various projects with huge funding to improve the financial condition of the farmers.

“Similarly, Rs2.7 billion are being spent on the distribution of 6,000 land levelers and Rs4.4 billion to provide revamping extension services,” he said.

He said the operation against the people and companies involved in the sale of spurious fertilizers and pesticides had been completed in six divisions of the province.

“Six special teams were constituted for the operation, of them five had completed their task in Multan, Lahore, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala and Faisalabad divisions while the sixth team would complete operation in Rawalpindi and Sargodha divisions from September 11 to September 14,” he said.

He said special teams inspected the infrastructure of pesticides and fertilizers companies besides checking their registration documents and stock registers.

The teams collected samples of pesticides and fertilizers from warehouses and sent these samples for testing to pesticide and fertilizer laboratories.

He said the teams collected samples of 248 pesticides and 58 fertilizers of 116 companies in Multan division, 24 pesticides and six fertilizers of 43 companies in Dera Ghazi Khan division and 47 pesticides and 20 fertilizers of 11 companies in Bahawalpur division.

He said that during the inspection four companies in Vehari and 12 of Khanewal were found registered but did not exist.

hotels sealed: A task force made by the district coordination officer sealed on Saturday three restaurants and 15 shops for flouting pure food regulations in Multan city.

The task force raided Papa Jino and Chicken Fry Club restaurants on Khanewal Road and found unhealthy meat and other items there.

The task force also raided Food Festival, a bakery, and found expired items being used in food.

On the complaints of the public, the task force also raided shops in Grain Market where adultearted red chilli was being prepared.

KILLED: A man was killed and two others were injured in a dispute over a mobile phone on Saturday.

Police said Nobia Qureshi, an actress and a resident of Lakar Mandi, reportedly gave her cell phone to her friend Muhammad Asif Seyal.

Asif and his cousin Salman reportedly manhandled her when she demanded her mobile phone from them.

Haji Aslam Qureshi, husband of Nobia, when learned about the incident, opened fire and killed Asif and injured Salman in a knife attack.

The relatives of Asif attacked Aslam with clubs and bricks.

Both Salman and Aslam were shifted to the Nishtar Hospital where doctors declared the condition of Salman out of danger and Aslam critical.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2015

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