SUKKUR: Governor-General Khwaja Nazimuddin laid the foundation stone of the KotriBarrage hub-centre of the Rs 21-crore Lower Sind Project 11 miles north of Kotri, on the right bank of Indus, at 12-40 p.m. on Sunday [Feb 12]. The Barrage is estimated to cost Rs 5 crores and will be ready in 1953.

`A colossal undertaking of great national importance`, as it was characterised by the Governor-General, the ambitious Lower Sind Project is designed to irrigate 2,750,000 acres of land, control the Indus floods and generate 107 million KW of hydro-electricity every year. ... [He] gave valuable suggestions how to make best use of the Project and how to develop the area to be irrigated by the Barrage. Staff correspondent [Meanwhile, as reported from Peshawar,] the [Afghan] Government is conducting a thorough inquiry into a fire which broke out in Qasri Sadaarat, the official residence of the Afghan Prime Minister, two days ago, according to usually reliable reports reaching here. The fire, which gutted some portion of the Prime Minister`s residence, is said to have started late on Thursday [Feb 9] night and continued well into the next day.