MULTAN: Pakistan People’s Party founder chairman Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) had special preferences for south Punjab districts as he introduced a number of development projects and schemes particularly in the field of education for the area.
The People’s Lawyers Forum (PLF) and PPP chapters scheduled different ceremonies to celebrate the 91st birth anniversary of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto here on Saturday and south Punjab but PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari cancelled all ceremonies across the country to mourn the death of party’s stalwart Malik Hakmin.
A large number of PPP workers said that Bhutto had introduced the relief-oriented projects for the people of south Punjab. Talking to The News, PLF senior leader Tariq Saeed Malik said that Bhutto had established a mega project of Mul People’s Colony for the poor class and provided residential plots to thousands of families. It was one of the mega housing schemes for the poor people at that time in which five-marla plots were distributed among the poor families to construct the houses. He said that Bhutto had introduced three-marla residential schemes for the villagers of south Punjab’s rural areas. He said that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had ordered the then Punjab PPP government for establishing a medical college in Bahawalpur while the Quaid-e-Azam Medical College was also established in 1971. The PPP government affiliated the college with Bahawalpur Victoria Hospital. Senior PPP leader Ilyas Khan said that Bhutto brought progressive reforms across the country.
He said that Multan Bahauddin Zakariya University was established under the title of ‘Multan University’. Later, Punjab former governor Sajjad Qureshi changed its name to Bahauddin Zakariya University during the marshall law of General Zia. Iqbal Bhutta, party’s senior leader from Dera Ghazi Khan, said that Bhutto was very keen on equipping the country with nuclear technology.
SNGPL fails to ensure smooth supply of gas: Residents of Sharifpura Saturday staged a demonstration against continuous load-shedding of gas. Carrying utensils in their hands, they took to streets on Saturday.
They complained that Sui gas load-shedding was continuing for the last two weeks, which has disrupted the routine life of more than 25,000 population of the area. The Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited officials have failed to address this critical issue problem despite the residents’ repeated visits to their offices.
The protesters gathered at Manzoorabad Chowk and blocked different roads for traffic. They claimed that they have been deprived of gas for the last two weeks. They also raised slogans against the government.
They demanded Prime Minister Imran Khan to take action against the accused and ensure smooth supply of gas by cutting supply to the factories. Moreover, they threatened to protest outside the SNGPL office if the government fails to fulfill their demand.
“Our children go to schools without even having breakfasts, as we cannot afford to buy food from restaurants. Earlier, we have been complaining about low gas pressure but with the change in weather, there is now no gas in the area,” they lamented.
The residents complained that unannounced gas load-shedding have created great inconvenience and hardships for them as they have been forced to switch to alternative fuels like liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), kerosene oil or firewood, they added. Parveen Bibi, an elderly woman, complained that the price of an LPG gas cylinder was also jacked up due to its high demand in the winter season. “It is very difficult for us to make our ends meet in present circumstances as additional fuel expenditure is hitting us hard.”
They pointed out that the area residents had been complaining to the SNGPL officials about low pressure and gas load-shedding for the last many days but all in vain. “They always make false promises about resolving the issue but they never do,” they bemoaned.
