BAHAWALPUR: Farmers in Bahawalpur division have raised serious concerns over the acute shortage of canal water, which they claim is jeopardising the recently sown wheat crop acrosslakhs ofacres.

Jam Hazoor Baksh, president of the Kisan Board of Pakistan, along with Kissan Ittehad leaders Muhammad Anwar, Malik Abid Channar and others, blamed the irrigation department for negligence. They warned that if water is not supplied soon, wheat germinationwill be severely affected, risking the government`s target of a bumper crop by April.

Irrigation officials called the shortage temporary. They attributed it to insufficient supply from upstream canals. They assured that the issue is being addressed with Punjab`s higher authorities. The Punjab government had recently reported wheat cultivation across 1.7 million acres in Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan districts.

ACIDE ATTACK: The Tibba Sultan police arrested Muhammad Abid Kamboh, the main suspect in an acid attackon Ghulam Mustafa, a goldsmith who suffered severe burnsinOct2024.

The arrest was made after the dismissal of Kamboh`s bail application by a court. Police said the suspect attempted to flee but was arrested. The acid attack, allegedly motivated by an old enmity, left Mustafa in critical condition.

RESCUE PERFORMANCE: Lodhran District Emergency Officer Shakeel Ahmed reported that Rescue 1122 in Lodhran responded to 61,401 emergency calls in 2024. The service rescued 60,988 people.

The annual report mentionsresponses to 48,294 road accidents, 287 fire incidents, and 4,895 other emergencies, including drowning cases.

ROAD ACCIDENTS: Two people were killed and eight others were seriously injured in three separate road accidents in Bahawalpur district on Saturday.

In the first incident, Abdul Razag (60) was killed while two minor children Husnain and Dilawar suffered serious injuries when their motorcycle was hit by a speeding wagon on Channigoth Road near Ahmedpur East. The injured were shifted to Ahmedpur EastTHQ Hospital. Police arrested the wagon-driver In the second road accident, five people, including a woman, suffered serious injuries when their wagon overturned after its tyre burst on Adda Manzorabad in Yazman. The injured people, Shehzad, Tariq, Riaz Waqas and Surriya Bibi, were shifted to Yazman THQ Hospital.

In Hasilpur`s Adda Mujkhatrabad, motorcyclist Iqbal was killed while Kamran was injured in a collision between two motorcycles. The injured was shifted to Hasilpur THQ hospital Hasilpuir.