OKARA/Hafizabad - Government officials admitted that due to unavailability of balanced food, our children remain short, weak, and suffer various diseases.
Addressing a seminar held in connection with World Food Day, they disclosed that on account of unavailability of balanced food to the children and people the economic and social progress was not possible.
“Generally the children remain short, weak, and diseased. Neither do they pass a better life, nor do they have longer life,” they said. The audience was provided awareness that breastfeeding by mothers, kitchen gardening by families, poultry farming and measures to ban adulteration could bring betterment to public life. After the seminar, a symbolic walk was organised.
District Controller M Asghar Sahu, Director Livestock Lubna Jabbar, Deputy Director Agriculture Extension Chaudhry Shehbaz Akhtar, Prof Rao Riaz Ahmed, CEO Health Dr Abul Majeed, and District Health Officer Dr M Irshad also spoke.
Deputy Commissioner Rizwan Nazeer said that a system would have to be devised to obtain self-reliance in providing food to each and every citizen.
He said that Punjab government under the leadership of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar had been gaining cooperation of different departments for a solution to the existing food problems and struggling hard to ensure access of people to safe and complete food.
Likewise, Hafizabad Deputy Commissioner Adnan Arshad Aulakh has appealed to the parents to desist from serving junk and fast food to their children, and instead ensure the provision of fortified flour, egg, milk, yogurt, butter, meat, and vegetables for their better mental and physical growth.
Addressing a gathering on the occasion of World Food Day observed under auspices of Food Department, he said that provision of balanced and unadulterated food was basic right of everyone but unfortunately no unadulterated foodstuff was available for them. “Our religion strictly forbade adulteration in edibles.” He said that adulteration in the edibles was just like terrorism, and those indulging in such nefarious business of adulteration deserved no leniency.
He said that malnutrition, unbalanced, and adulterated food was badly affecting the mental and physical health of everyone particularly the children. He said that The Punjab Food Authority was playing its vibrant role in ensuring pure and unadulterated food, and the government was enacting strict laws to eliminate the mafia indulging in adulteration. He called upon the general public particularly civil society to keep strict eye over the traders indulging in adulteration and report the matter to the concerned authorities for legal action.
RECORD STOLEN
The old record of the admin block and x-ray section of the DHQ hospital was stolen. Sometime ago, on account of renovation and repair of the admin block and x-ray section of the DHQ Hospital, the old record of both the sections was put in the residence No.A-1 of Medical Colony under a lock. Now when the renovation and repairs were completed, the record was to be brought to the concerned sections. But the lock on the main gate of the residence No.A-1 was found broken and the record kept there was missing. A case was registered in the A-Division police station.
