MULTAN The City

Loadshedding during Sehr, Iftar
Women throw traffic out of gear for five hours
From Our Correspondent
MULTAN: A large number of women staged a demonstration against gas loadshedding here on Tuesday.
The residents of Lohar Colony, Shah Shams Colony and Mumtazabad staged a demonstration and blocked Multan-Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur roads for more than five hours, causing traffic mess. They also burnt tyres to register their protest. When the protesting women were setting tyres on fire, a shopkeeper came to them and tried to stop them from burning tyres, which led a scuffle between them. In the meantime, the women allegedly attacked the shopkeeper with sticks and injured him. The protesting women carrying stoves and sticks in their hands said that they had been facing gas loadshedding during Sehr and Iftar. They said that the gas loadshedding in the summer was creating several problems for them as they were unable to cook food.
One of the protesting women said that gas had been suspended for the last three days. Another woman, Bakhshan Mai, said that her family faced problems during Sehr and Iftar due to gas suspension. She said that the unavailability of gas had compelled the people to purchase cooked food from the hotels, which was affecting their domestic budget. Jameela Bibi said that she had lodged several complaints with the SNGPL but to no avail.
The protesters warned of staging a sit-in in front of the SNGPL office if it did not end gas loadshedding. On information, police rushed to the spot and assured them that their grievance would be quickly redressed. Later, the protesters dispersed.
MAIZE SOWING TARGET: The Agriculture Department has fixed maize sowing target at 1,525,000 acres with the production target of 3.6 million ton for south Punjab districts.
The maize will be cultivated on 138,300 acres in Multan division with the production target of 376,200 ton. In Dera Ghazi Khan division, it will be cultivated on over 16,280 acres with the production target of 10,410 ton. In Bahawalpur division, it will be cultivated on 31,400 acres with the production target of 67,210 ton.