HYDERABAD, Feb 9: Residents of the Shah Makki Road area and its vicinity held a protest demonstration outside the press club here on Wednesday against suspension of repair work on a drain on the Tulsi Das Road.

The protesters, including shopkeepers and rickshaw and mini- taxi drivers, were led by Anjuman Dukandaran president Fayyaz Awan. The shopkeepers kept their shops closed. They burnt tyres at the Gharib Nawaz Bridge Chowk and staged a sit-in at the Hyder Chowk.

Talking to journalists, their leaders condemned apathy of the district government. They said work on an open drain on the Tulsi Das Road and on the Shah Makki Road had been started following their hunger strike. However, they regretted, the work had now been suspended.

They claimed that substandard material had been used in the projects. They said the work had been suspended despite a claim of the DCO that advance payment had been made to contractors. They said they would continue their protest till resumption of the work on the drain and the road.

JSM: The Jeay Sindh Mahaz has decided to contest the next local bodies elections from the platform of Watandost Mahaz Panel.

The decision was taken at a meeting of parliamentary board of the JSM which was presided over by the party chairman, Syed Zain Shah.

The meeting pointed out that the Sindhis had been hoodwinked for the last 57 years by those who took anti-Sindh decisions after getting votes. The meeting held establishment and federalists responsible for exploitation of the resources of Sindh.

The meeting appealed to the people to exercise their right of franchise in favour of nationalist forces.