MIRPURKHAS, March 4: The executive district officer (agriculture) has cautioned farmers not to sow the officially-banned BT cotton that is already being sown in some parts of Mirpurkhas and Sanghar districts.
According to a press release issued here on Wednesday, EDO Shaukat Ali Rahimoon said the government had banned the sowing of the genetically modified cotton despite some controversial articles appearing in the print media on the benefits of the BT and other varieties.
The EDO said scientists of the National Institute of Bio- Technology and Genetic Engineering as well as the National Institute of Agriculture opposed the sowing of the variety until it was approved by the government after enforcement of national safety guidelines and release of local seed varieties.
Mr Rahimoon warned the farming community that they should not sow the BT cotton until the lifting of the official ban as it would be a violation of the Cotton Control Act.
BT cotton - genetically modified through induction of bacterium (bacillus thuringensis) that is resistant to boll worms but susceptible to other pests - has the potential to give rise to a new plant disease that could damage the whole cotton crop in the province.
COMMUNICATION: Provincial Works and Communication Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim has said millions of rupees are being spent on the restoration of old roads while a network of new roads is being laid in the province to connect cities with backward areas.
Speaking at a meeting held here on Thursday, the minister said execution of the roads schemes was an effort to redress grievances of the people of backward areas while adding that a revolution in progress would follow the completion of the plans.
Sindh Assembly speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister Faqeer Jadim Mangrio, Communication and Construction secretary Ashfaque Memon, MNAs, MPAs, taluka and union councils Nazims and Naib Nazims attended the meeting.
SUICIDE: A teenaged girl, Sita, 16, daughter of Mango, allegedly committed suicide by taking pesticides at Hussainabad Farm, Mirpurkhas taluka, on Thursday.
She was brought to the Mirpurkhas Civil Hospital in a precarious condition where she died. Motive behind the suicide was said to be a domestic dispute.
ACCIDENT: A passenger was killed while five others were seriously injured when a coaster overturned after a tyre burst near Sultanabad on the Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas road on Wednesday.
District health office clerk Mohammad Ramazan died on the spot while Israr Ahmed, Irshad Ahmed, Zubair, Ali Mohammad and Shahid were rushed to the Mirpurkhas Civil Hospital from where Israr was shifted to Hyderabad due to his critical condition.
MMA: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal district president Azizur Rehman, in a press statement issued here the other day, said damaged drainage system in the city which caused great hardships to residents.