TOBA TEK SINGH, March 18: A provincial poultry farmer convention on Saturday condemned the passage of a bill by the Punjab Assembly under which one-dish meal in weddings had been banned. The convention, which was addressed by ruling party MNA Riaz Fatyana, District Nazim Chaudhry Abdul Sattar, DCO Nawazish Ali, All-Pakistan Poultry Farmers Association president Dr Arshad Hanif and association’s consumers awareness section convener Khalid Malik, passed various resolutions demanding that the government should provide financial help to the farmers whose poultry business had been wound up by the bird flu scare and allow one-dish meals at marriage functions.

It also urged the government to use the media to remove confusion and fear of bird flu from the minds of the public.

KILLED: A farmer was killed by his rivals near Chak 270-GB on Saturday.

Reports said Riaz Chaddhar was on his way home from Kamalia on his bicycle along with his wife and two children when his rivals shot at him near the Kamalia Sugar Mills. The farmer died on the spot while his wife and children suffered bruises after they fell on the road.

Meanwhile, a woman was crushed to death by a speeding bus on the Toba-Faisalabad Road.

Razia of Chak 95-JB Gahri (Gojra) had come to Chak 287-JB to see her relatives. She was crossing the road when a bus (JA-3544) ran over and killed her.