Labourer, son die from toxic fumes while cleaning sewage well in Vehari

BAHAWALPUR: A labourer and his son died after inhaling toxic fumes while cleaning a sewage well in Vehari district, while a third man lost consciousness when he went down in an attempt to save them, according to Rescue 1122.

Vehari Rescue 1122 media coordinator said a contractor had engaged two labourers, Azeem, 50, and his son Owais, 22, to clean a 30-foot-deep sewage well at Akbar Town Adda in Machiwal on Monday. The two men went down into the well without safety equipment and became unconscious after breathing in poisonous gases that had built up inside it.

When the pair did not respond, the contractor sent another man, Shehbaz, into the well. He also passed out, the Rescue 1122 official said.

Residents then alerted Rescue 1122, whose team reached the site and pulled all three men from the well. Azeem and Owais, both residents of Chak No 433/EB, were declared dead, while Shehbaz, a resident of Chak No 561/EB, was rescued alive.

Vehari Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Khalid Goraya also reached the scene after receiving information about the incident and oversaw the rescue operation.

Road accidents in Bahawalpur

In separate incidents in Bahawalpur district on Monday, one man was killed and four other people, including two women, were seriously injured.

In the first accident, Khadim Hussain, 50, died in a collision between a motorcycle and a tractor-trolley at Mukhtiarabad on Vehari Road in Hasilpur tehsil. Afzal, 55, and two women, Jannat Mai, 50, and Nooran Mai, 50, sustained serious injuries. The body and the injured were shifted to THQ Hospital Hasilpur, and traffic police arrested the tractor driver.

In the second incident, at Baghochi Pull on the Southern Bypass in Bahawalpur city, Qadeer, 50, suffered head injuries after being hit by a speeding vehicle while crossing the road. He was taken to Bahawal Victoria Hospital in serious condition. Traffic police arrested the driver involved in the incident.

Land allocated under Punjab scheme

The Cholistan Development Authority has allocated around 77,000 acres in Cholistan for the Punjab government’s Apna Khet Apna Rozgar scheme, Bahawalpur Commissioner Irfan Ali Kathia said on Monday after receiving a briefing from CDA officials.

According to the commissioner, the land earmarked for the scheme is located in Yazman tehsil of Bahawalpur district and Fortabbas tehsil of Bahawalnagar district. He said the initiative is intended to provide employment opportunities to landless people through land allotment and to increase agricultural output in the division.

Kathia said the allotment of government land would be carried out transparently and that the complete data of the land had been uploaded to a web portal.

Flood-hit residents assured of embankment

Punjab Irrigation Minister Mian Kazim Hussain Pirzada and Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Malik Zaheer Iqbal Channar assured residents affected by last year’s Sutlej flooding in Mari Qasim Shah village that a concrete embankment would be built for their protection.

Addressing a gathering in the village, the two leaders heard accounts from residents about the hardships they faced during last year’s flooding and the erosion caused by river water. They directed officials to survey the area and approve government funds for the construction of a concrete embankment to protect local people, livestock and agricultural land from erosion and floodwater.

According to an official handout, the irrigation minister told residents that the government would take immediate steps in this regard.