SIALKOT

The hundreds of children were left unvaccinated by the polio vaccinators in 85 border villages of Bajwat as the vaccination teams could not reach these villages though they had marked their presence in the official documents, health officials confirmed.
Local people including women and children have strongly protested against the alleged negligence of the Sialkot Health Department teams deputed for these villages to go and give the anti polio vaccine drops to the local children. They said that the teams could not reach there during the recently held anti-polio vaccine campaign due to which the hundreds of the minor children remained deprived of vaccine dose.
Meanwhile, MNA Armughan Subhani, MPAs Tariq Akhtar Subhani, Rana Muhammad Iqbal and MLA-AJK Muhammad Ishaq have also expressed grave concern over the situation. They asked the senior officials of Sialkot Health Department to bring all the negligent health officials to book.
When contacted, EDO (Health) Dr Javaid Warraich said that a strict departmental probe had already been ordered against all the responsible teams for the negligence, by taking serious notice of the mounted public complaints. The EDO added that all the responsible officials and teams of Sialkot Health Department would be brought to task.
ARRESTS: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested 10 people deported from Turkey upon their arrival at Sialkot International Airport.
Deputy Director FIA Gujranwala Region Khalid Anees said the persons including Jaabar, Mushtaq, Sarwar, and Majid had been deported from Turkey after being caught by the Turkish security officials while trying to enter into Greece illegally.
The FIA deputy director said that the FIA had started legal action against the human traffickers who had sent these persons abroad illegally after extorting big amounts from them.
ACCOUNTS FROZEN: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has frozen the accounts of 50 big tax evaders in region and drawn Rs8 million from these accounts to ensure early payment of their outstanding arrears.
According to the senior FBR officials, the FBR has got the accounts frozen as a last attempt to recover their dues, as the businessmen were still reluctant to pay their amounts of taxes totally ignoring the repeated recovery notices issued to the by the FBR.
The officials added that the FBR has also imposed ban on the transfer of 25 commercial plots and 35 luxurious vehicles in different parts of the Gujranwala region for being defaulted by their duties and taxes as well. They revealed that the FBR has established a special recovery cell at Regional Tax Directorate Gujranwala to facilitate the local tax payers at local level. They said that the FBR was making efforts to bring maximum people under the tax net by offering them incentives.
BAAB-E-SIALKOT WORK STARTS: The foundation stone of Baab-e-Sialkot (gate) project has been laid near Sahowala-Sambrial.
Addressing the participants, the Gujranwala commissioner said that the design of the said “Baab-e-Sialkot” would be as per the culture of Sialkot, reflecting the history of Sialkot. He said it would also increase the beauty of Sialkot city, leaving the fresh and eye-catching impacts to the visitors. It would also contain the rare pictures and famous poetry of Allama Iqbal and Faiz Ahmed Faiz both the sons of soil of Sialkot).
He revealed that it would reflect Sialkot’s historical perspective, culture, heritage and its global industrial significance, besides, opening the new vistas of socio-economic and human development in Sialkot region , a land of the opportunities as well. He added that as many as eight Baabs (gates) would soon be established at different main parts of Gujranwala Division during the next six months in active collaboration with the local business tycoons and philanthropists.
He said that the wall of Sialkot has been attributed to son of soil of Sialkot Allama Iqbal, the Poet and Philosopher of the East. This wall was being established to promote Iqbaliyat in active collaboration with Sialkot business community, besides, paying homage to Allama Iqbal through this noble way.