SAHIWAL: A saw labourer at the Ara Bazaar died from the critical injury and ensuing loss of blood on Thursday.

His coworkers blamed poor safety standard at work and the late response from Rescue 1122 for the death of Muhammad Aslam, 30, of Kot Khadim Ali Shah.

They said no emergency van reached the scene and only a motorcycle team visited them. As he could not be shifted to hospital on motorcycle, his colleagues arranged a a three-wheeler but he succumbed to his injuries before reaching hospital. Rescue 1122 officials told Dawn they were internally investigating the matter.

Aslam was working on Waseem Ferozpuri’s saw machine at Ara Bazaar on Thursday when the running blade broke and hit him.

The deep wound on his right shoulder proved fatal even though colleagues tried to stop bleeding by placing cloths on the wounds.

Precious 25 minutes were wasted in wait for Rescue 1122 even though the accident site is two kilometres from Mission Chowk where Rescue 1122 office us located.

The accident raises questions on the safety standards at the saw market for labourers. Dawn learnt from sources that no official from labour and social security departments every visited the market where more than 15,000 saw laborers work. They are never registered for social security.

District Labour Officer Hyder Shah told Dawn their department had no record of saw labourers.

CASE: The Malkain Hans Police booked 15 people, of them five nominated, for attacking Punjab Food Authority (PFA) employees who raided a milk factory late on Sept 24 in village 71/D on Sahiwal-Pakpattan Road.

The case included terrorism section, registered on the complaint of Umar Arshad, PFA deputy director. The nominated suspects are factory owner Dr Khalid Javed, his nephews Riaz and Fasil and employees Azhar Hussain, Mazhar Hussain and Abbas.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2019