DADU: Water Commission chairman Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim on Saturday visited the sites of tanks dug to store water to be supplied to Mehar Town as well as filtration plants installed in the area. It was his third visit to Mehar Town in the last two months.
Justice (retd) Muslim, who heads a one-member commission constituted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to look into the drinking water and sanitation issues in the province, censured officials of the Mehar tehsil municipal administration and the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department for not releasing water into the ponds and the filter plants for the last nine months.
The TMA officials complained that the Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO) officials were not supplying electricity needed to supply water to the filtration plants and the tanks.
When Justice (retd) Muslim asked from Chief Municipal Officer Sami Durani whether payment had been made against the demand draft for electricity connections, he was told that it had yet to be paid.
The TMA CMO was asked to immediately release the amount so that the demand draft for new connections could be deposited.
Later, the water commissioner inquired Assistant Commissioner Mehar Abdul Fatah Panhwar and irrigation officials about the state of encroachments along the embankments of Kakool Wah. Panhwar told him that all encroachments were removed but the protesters were still complaining. Justice (retd) Muslim then said that he would soon visit the Kakool Wah area to corroborate the claims. Deputy Commissioner Dadu Raja Shah Zaman Khuhro, Irrigation engineer Syed Aijaz Shah and other officials were also present on the occasion.
Two held for child’s murder
Dadu police on Saturday arrested two suspects nominated in an FIR of a 12-year-old’s murder.
Police said the body of the deceased, identified as Liaquat Ali Gopang, was found dumped near Dadu bypass three days ago. According to Dadu SSP Qamar Raza Jiskani, a police team arrested the two men wanted in the murder case in a raid. He identified the suspects as Hubdar Gopang and Nawab Gopang and said they were under investigation at the moment. The suspects have been accused of sexually assaulting the child before they strangulated him and abandoned the body near the bypass. The SSP said that during investigation the suspects had admitted to having killed the child over a marital dispute.
Protesters seek action against fraudster
Dozens of people held a demonstration against a fraudster and demanded action against him for depriving innocent people of their savings. The protesters said one Ayaz Soomro was running a scam with the name of Al-Shahbaz Motorcycles Scheme in Dadu and its surrounding areas. Protesters including Imtiaz, Gul Sheer, Mehmood Ali and Ali Nawaz and Sajjad alleged that Soomro had collected up to Rs5 billion in the form of small amounts from various Dadu residents as well as people from Mehar, Johi, Moro, Naushehro Feroze, Sehwan, Jamshoro, and Hyderabad.
They said some influential political personalities and police officials were supporting Soomro and that was why he had yet to be apprehended for running the fraud. They appealed the Dadu SSP to help the affected people recover their amount from Soomro. They warned that if their amount were not be recovered and Soomro arrested, they would commit mass suicide in front of the Dadu Press Club. SSP Qamar Raza Jiskani said that the matter involved a huge sum of money and it fell in the domain of the Federal Investigation Agency. However, he said if anyone would bring forward a formal complaint the police would look into the matter.
Published in Daily Times, April 15th 2018.
