Govt committed to improving living standard of people: minister

FAISALABAD: State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib held an open court in his office and listened to the public problems here on Sunday.

He told the attendees that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was committed to improving living standard of the masses and in this connection, efforts had been accelerated to provide basic amenities to them and solve their genuine problems. He said that various development projects had been initiated in his constituency, NA-108, including provision of electricity and gas, rehabilitation of public parks and grounds while the master plan for supply of potable water and sewerage facility had also been finalised and physical work on it would start soon. He said that the third wave of corona pandemic was very dangerous. Therefore, the people should adopt anti-corona standard operating procedures (SOPs) voluntarily, he added. People from Chak 235/RB, Niamoana, were present at the open court and they thanked the minister for providing electricity to their area.

24 gamblers arrested: Police on Sunday claimed to have arrested 24 people for gambling in various parts of the district.

On a tip-off, the police conducted a raid at Chak 83/GB on Sammundri Road and nabbed 15 people red-handed while gambling on horse race. The police recovered stake money of Rs 18,760, four motorcycles, mobile phones, a loader rickshaw and a mini truck from their possession.

The accused were identified as Kashif, Sajid, Saleem, Karman Asghar, Younus, Adnan, Rasheed, M Younus, Azam, Shahbaz, Shaukat, Taufail, Waseem and Ameen. Similarly, the police also nabbed nine people red-handed while gambling on pigeons’ flight competition at Chak 440/GB on Sammundri Road. The accused were identified as Azam, Ameen, Shakeel, Faqeer Hussain, Ismatullah, Junaid, Amir, Ahmad Yar. The police recovered stake money of Rs 35,000 and other paraphernalia from their possession.

Sizing factory gutted: Precious material was reduced to ashes in a sizing factory blaze in the area of Nishatabad police station.

Police said that the fire erupted in the factory situated at Daewoo Road near Small Estate due to a short circuit. The fire engulfed the entire surroundings and burnt precious material, including yarn and cloth bundles. On information, firefighters of Rescue-1122 rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control after hectic efforts. However, no loss of life was reported in the incident.