GILGIT, April 23: A civil judge has stayed the tender process for construction of buildings for government departments of the newly created Astore district.

The orders were passed on a complaint by Muhammad Rasheed, a member of Union Council Lous Astore. He has filed a civil suit against the inviting of tenders by the Northern Areas Public Works Department Astore for construction of various government department buildings in Gorikote, some 10kms from Eidgah, the notified headquarters of Astore.

He has pleaded that the federal government had notified Eidgah as the headquarters of Astore district and its re-location to Gorikote is not only a violation of these notifications but also against the rights of the people of Eidgah and surrounding villages.

The court, after preliminary hearing of the plaint, issued interim stay order till April 25th and asked the defendants to produce documentary evidence, in support of their decision to make Gorikote the headquarters of Astore district.

FOUR KILLED: Four people died of suffocation and another two fainted in a 35-feet deep well in Sakarkui suburb of Gilgit, police sources said on Sunday.

Tariq Ameen, a student of class VII, who had repaired the suction pump of the village mosque and went into the well to see the water level, but he did not return.

His relatives Abdul Hameed, Mujahid Iqbal and Daulat Nazar descended into the well one by one to see what had happened to Tariq. The sources said when none of them came back their relatives Juma Khan and Sadiq also went into the well but even they did not return.

The villagers reported the incident to the rescue team of the Gilgit district hospital.

The team descended into the well with oxygen masks and rescued Juma Khan and Sadiq and also pulled up bodies of Tariq Ameen, Abdul Hameed, Mujahid Iqbal and Daulat Nazar.

The sources said that Juma Khan and Sadiq were admitted to local hospitals where conditions of one of them were serious.