Police tighten noose around land grabbers
List of 238 illegal occupation, extortion suspects prepared
File photo of Punjab police personnel in a meeting. PHOTO: PUNJAB POLICE
LAHORE:
Lahore police have identified at least 238 individuals suspected of involvement in land grabbing, extortion and public harassment in the city.
The highest number of suspects has been identified in the cantonment police division where 109 people have been found involved in the criminal activities, followed by 53 in city division, 25 in Sadar, 24 in Iqbal Town, 13 in Civil Lines and 14 in Model Town division. According to the list prepared by the police, around 70 % of the suspected land grabbers, extortionists and those involved in creating public nuisance are residents of the cantonment and city divisions.
National
January 9, 2021
LAHORE: The protesting organisations spread their Quetta Hazara protest sit-in to three more places in the city on Friday, causing serious traffic jams and panic in the city.
The sit-ins were extended to Imamia Colony Railway crossing on GT Road, Ferozepur Road near Chungi Amar Sidhu and Thokar Niaz Beg Multan Road, near Motorway exit.
The GT Road sit-in caused serious hurdles in the traffic coming to Lahore from northern side and also obstructed the railway traffic which caused several hours of delay in the departure and arrival of trains at Lahore station.
The Railway authorities apologized to the passengers for the delay and announced they were making arrangements for smooth running of trains. Besides, the protesters also choked the GT road, the main artery of traffic towards Lahore from the cities and towns on the north.
Long queues of vehicles near Shaukat Khanum due to blockade of roads during a pro-Hazara protest. White Star
LAHORE: Defying the cold weather, supporters of the Hazara community, led by the Majlis-i-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM), on Friday set up more protest camps in and around the city, blocked all entry and exit points and isolated Lahore from the rest of the country.
By 4pm on Friday, the protesters had set up camps at Thokar Niaz Beg (Multan Road), Imamia Colony (GT Road) and Chungi Amar Sidhu (Ferozepur Road), blocking entry into and exit from the city. Participants at these sit-ins kept growing in intensity and number till this report was filed.
LDA to revamp engineering wing
Meeting reviews different ongoing uplift projects in city
LAHORE:
Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Director General Ahmed Aziz Tarar said the engineering wing of the authority would be revamped at par with modern standards to expedite the development of the city efficiently.
Chairing a progress review meeting on ongoing development projects in the city on Thursday, he directed the department concerned to clearly define duties of the engineering wing’s officers and assign them responsibilities for uplift of different areas of the city. He further instructed for gearing up the pace of work on the ongoing development projects and ensuring sensible use of resources for this purpose.
The much-awaited Orange Line Metro Train was inaugurated in the month of October. AFP/File
LAHORE: The Punjab government highlights its achievements of 2020 and among them, the most prominent are making south Punjab secretariat functional, recruitment of doctors, launching the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development project and people’s assistance programme, constructing mother and child health hospitals, issuing health and medicine cards and other development programmes.
The Punjab government says the year 2020 was fateful for south Punjab as senior officials were posted in the South Punjab secretariat along with approval of the design of the secretariat building.
Up to 25,000 doctors and paramedics were recruited in the health department as well as recruitments of 10,000 police constables.