FAISALABAD, April 21: The Punjab Textbook Board (PTBB) has failed to market essential course books in time even after 21 days of the new academic session.
A survey conducted by this correspondent on Sunday revealed over 50 per cent books were not available in Aminpur and Urdu Bazaar.
It was learnt that there was not a single book available in the market for the primary students in government institutions.
Books of Arabic, Pakistan Studies, English, Science and Mathematics for 6th, Science, Mathematics and Urdu for 7th, Islamiat, Urdu and English for 8th and Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics for 9th and 10th were not available in the market due to the negligence of the PTBB officials.
Some parents told this correspondent that the PTBB and private publishers had been supplying substandard textbooks at higher prices. The rates of copies and guides had also been enhanced by the publishers, they added.
A woman said she had purchased partial syllabus with complete set of notebooks and guides for her two grand-daughters for Rs1,800.
It was observed a set of books and copies for a primary class students at a private institution was available in the market at Rs700 to 800.
The Punjab government and even tehsil and district governments have yet to announce any policy for distribution of free books and material to deserving students as practised during previous years.
Students have urged the government to take cognizance of the situation so that they could start studies without delay.
CONDEMNED: Over 100 local lawyers on Sunday condemned District Bar Association (DBA) ex-president’s statement about give and take policy with President Musharraf.
In a statement, they said establishment of a high court bench in Faisalabad was a genuine demand of the people.
They said they would continue their protest against referendum.
PPP ALLEGATION: Punjab PPP secretary-general Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan has alleged that all the district Nazimeen of the province have been directed by the government to ensure maximum turnout in the referendum at all costs.
In a statement here on Sunday, the PPP leader said the government plan to set up polling stations at hotels, motels, restaurants, petrol pumps and parks itself spoke of the pre-rigging efforts.
He said all wings of the PPP from Faisalabad would take part in the anti-referendum rally of April 27 in Lahore and express their resentment over the negative policies of the government.
LOOTED: Dacoits looted cloth and yarn worth Rs500,000 from a textile unit in Nishatabad here on Saturday night.
The gangsters forced their entry into a weaving factory and held hostage its employees and gunmen at gunpoint. The bandits loaded the cloth and yarn on a truck and fled.
Two highwaymen snatched Rs25,000 from one Zahid on the Faisalabad-Jhang Road.