BAHAWALPUR: Commissioner Saqib Zafar has taken notice of the slow pace of work on 74 uplift projects of the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED).

According to an official handout on Monday, the meeting reviewed 129 uplift schemes worth Rs7.5 billion of the Public Health Engineering Department in three districts.

The meeting was informed that 53 projects of Rs1.1 billion, 48 of Rs3.1 billion and 28 projects of Rs3.2 billion were going on in Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan districts, respectively.

The commissioner took notice of the slow work on 74 projects.

Insiders told Dawn the commissioner had expressed displeasure over the absence of Public Health Engineering Department executive engineer Baqir Gardezi who was represented by his superintending engineer Javed Akhtar in the meeting.

The commissioner asked Mr Akhtar about the whereabouts of Mr Gardezi and observed that he had come to attend the meeting unprepared.

The meeting was chaired by Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Trade and Commerce Mian Najeebuddin Owaisi.

SEMINAR: Speakers at a seminar stressed peace, harmony and tolerance in the region.

MNA Begum Parveen Masood Bhatti, ex-MPA Syed Tabish Alwari, art council resident director Rana Ajaz Mahmood, Iftikhar Moon and others urged the people to play their role for maintaining peace in society.