BAHAWALNAGAR, MAY: 16: About a 100-feet wide breach which occurred between mile stone no 116 and 117 in Hakra Branch Canal near Bara Sajwar Khan Akuka on Monday is yet to be plugged. Canal water gushing from the breach inundated thousands of acres of land and nearby villages. However, according to canal officials, people of Mouza Bara Sajwar Khan and Mahmoodpura remained safe.

Hakra Branch Executive Engineer Sheikh Muhammad Nawaz told the press that no damage was done to any crop as wheat had already been harvested and cotton sowing was under way. He said the actual damage would be worked out after a thorough survey of the area. He said the main Sadqia Canal had been closed at Sulemanki Headworks and water in the canal was decreasing.

He said bulldozers, tractors and manpower of the area had reached the spot to plug the breach. He said the breach reportedly occurred due to fall of an old tree standing on the bank of the canal and hoped that it would be plugged within the next couple of hours with the help of people of the area.

KILLED: A schoolteacher, Abdul Shakoor, was killed by unidentified assailants here on Sunday night at Dhani Mani Ram. Saddar police have registered a case on the report of Shakoor’s brother Ali Ahmed.