Chak Allah Bakhash (Punjab), Sept. 15 (ANI): The prices of farming land have plunged following past week’s rocket-shelling incident in the India-Pakistan border villages.
Local farmers say that it was already quite tough to find buyers for the land situated beyond fencing and the latest rocket-shelling incident has caused the prices to drop further.
Fenced from three sides, Village Chak Allah Bakhash at the International border has nearly 150 acres of land beyond fencing.
Balwinder Kaur, one of the natives in village Chak Allah Bakhash, said that it was already difficult for her to meet the daily expenditure.
Sucha Singh, another villager, said: “My family owns a piece of land across fencing and has been facing many difficulties while cultivating the land at the border. There are no takers for our land.”
Nearly 553 km long barbed fencing of the Punjab border along side Pakistan resulted in thousands of acres of land being left beyond fencing.
The price of the land spread before fencing line is nearly three times higher than the vast land spread beyond the fencing.
An acre of land, located before fencing, is available for approximately 600,000 to 10,00,000 rupees whereas more fertile land, located beyond the fencing, is worth about 200,000 to 300,000 rupees per acre.
Mandatory frisking by security men at the border gates of the fence and restricted working hours and few objections could be some of the reasons for a lesser price of land beyond fencing.
The farmers are worried that it would be difficult to find buyers for their lands. By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)
Musharraf power theft scandal case: Low level workers punished
Islamabad, Sep 17 (ANI): The Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) has only punished 64 junior officers for their involvement in the power theft scandal involving former President Pervez Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz and others in the luxurious Chak Shahzad farmhouses.
The big guns in the electricity department have not even been touched, according to well-placed sources.
The list of punished employees includes 35-meter readers, 14 line superintendents and 15 sub-divisional officers, The News reports.
Sources said these personnel were those who had to implement the orders of the higher-ups and no high-ranking official has been touched in the order passed by Iesco on 10-9-2009.
The official spokesman for Iesco, Ameer Hussain Chaman, when asked about the punishment, said he was not aware of any such punishments.
“I have not been conveyed any such details, therefore, I cannot offer any comment over the issue,” he added.
Sources said Colonel Umer Hayat was conducting the inquiry and on 9-9-2009 his tenure was completed and on 10-09-2009 these personnel were punished.
They say that in this power-theft scandal the higher-ups passed all the orders and the junior officers had no option, but to obey the orders.
It is worth mentioning here that Musharraf had constructed a modern house on the farm obtained for breeding poultry and vegetables, but the ex-general has been enjoying the cheapest power tariff, D-2(1) connection, which is meant for agriculture tube wells and lift irrigation pumps. (ANI)