SAHIWAL: Five buffaloes, including a calf, were electrocuted after touching live wires from two leaning electric poles near village 56/GD, Modain on Friday morning.

Eyewitnesses said the animals were grazing when they touched the wires and died instantly.

The cattle belonged to Muhammad Yasin, a small-scale farmer and a resident of Modain. He had taken his livestock out to graze and was behind the cattle when the incident occurred. He rushed to the spot but was helpless as the animals collapsed after touching the wires.

Two days earlier, a heavy thunderstorm had damaged and bent two Wapda poles, which left them leaning across the fields and the path leading to village Modain. Villagers claimed that they had reported the matter to the local Mepco authorities but no action was taken despite persistent cloudy weather over the past 48 hours.

Kot Khadim Ali Shah Mepco SDO Ali Zia said that a team had been dispatched to the spot to fix the fault.

FARMERS: The Pakpattan chapter of the Pakistan Kisan Ittehad (PKI), during a meeting, has rejected the increased cold storage rates for the potato crops as well as the ‘high’ tax rates on top of the increase in fuel and other agricultural input prices.

Speaking to Dawn by phone, PKI (Khalid Mahmood Khokhar Group) President Chaudhry Rizwan Iqbal said potato farmers were “crushed” in the previous season, and now cold storage owners were demanding Rs650 per bag for storing the fresh potato crop. He urged the Punjab government and the agriculture department to immediately intervene and reduce the fares.

The gathering was also addressed by other local leaders, who called for urgent government action to protect farmers from what they described as exploitative charges.

Mr Rizwan announced that PKI had called a press conference at the Lahore Press Club on August 2, led by Khalid Mahmood, the central president of the PKI.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2026