MULTAN City News

SI terminated

From Our Correspondent

MULTAN: City Police Officer Azhar Akram Thursday sacked a sub-inspector for his failure in arresting proclaimed offenders and not presenting challans in courts on time.

The CPO took action against SI Muhammad Sadiq in the light of an inquiry conducted by SSP (Investigations) Atif Ikram.

 

‘Substandard seeds, pink bollworms

play havoc with cotton crop’

From Our Correspondent

MULTAN: The severe attack of pink bollworms and substandard seeds have played havoc with the cotton crop, said Punjab Agriculture Information Assistant Director Naveed Asmat Kahloon.

Talking to newsmen here on Thursday, he said that the poor pest management had caused decline in crop production and per acre yield in the cotton producing areas. He said that several pests hit the crop but the pink bollworm affected it badly, causing 20-30 per cent loss to the crop. He said that the loss inflicted by pink bollworm was bigger than the impact of any other worm. He further said that about 50 per cent of larvae survived throughout the winter in silken cocoons in the top two to three inches of soil while the other 50 per cent remain in whole or fragmented bolls and squares.

About management of pink bollworm, he emphasised destroying cotton sticks or remaining bowls after the harvesting till January 31, burning affected bolls under heaps of cotton sticks and turning heaps over to expose bolls to sunlight, besides letting sheep and goats graze on unwanted bolls after the final picking. It would help reduce the pest attack next season, he added. In the pink bollworm-infested cotton fields, wheat crop must be treated with two liters chlorpyrifos per acre with floodwater irrigation, he said, adding that these off-season management practices would help reduce the pink bollworm attack next season considerably.

 

 

Five more swine flu patients hospitalised

From Our Correspondent

MULTAN: Five more swine flu patients were shifted to the Nishtar Hospital on Wednesday night and Thursday, the hospital sources said.

The patients are 40-year-old Arfa and 35-year-old Sultan of Dera Ismail Khan, 39-year-old Shehnaz of Sargodha, 10-year-old Iqra of Jampur and 50-year-old Atiya of Dera Ghazi Khan.

After the admission of the five patients to the hospital, the number of swine flu patients has risen to 24, the hospital sources added. They said that the swine flu virus had been confirmed in three patients while they were waiting for reports of two other patients.