BAHAWALPUR: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has released Rs20 million to make functional the kidney transplant unit at Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH).

This was stated by Quaid-i-Azam Medical College (QAMC) Principal Prof Dr Haroon Khursheed Pasha in a meeting of BVH`s board of management (BoM) presided over by acting chairman retired Justice Farrukh Mahmood Malik here on Wednesday.

He informed the meeting the unit would soon be made operative after the completion of the remaining construction work.The BoM members expressed concern over the dysfunctional of the BVH kidney unit due to which a large number of patients not only from all parts of the Bahawalpur division but also from Sadigabad and Lodhran districts faced hardships.

The BoM chairman directed the BVH administration to complete construction of the cardiac surgery ward and intensive care unit.

The construction of ICU, kidney and cardiac centres could not be completed in eight years because the Punjab government had failed to release required funds.

The meeting was also informed that the construction of the cardiology and cardiac surgery ward was continuing at a cost of Rs880million while Rs270 million would be spent on the completion of the ICU.

SECURITY: The security of Quaid-i-Azam Solar Park near here will be beefed up by the police and other law-enforcement agencies.

This was stated by acting DPO Saeed Ahmed Sathiar who inspected the park the other day and reviewed the existing security arrangements there.

The DPO directed that a firefighting vehicle and an ambulance should be arranged on a permanent basis.

He ordered the policemen deployed there to be vigilant about the entry of any outsider within the limits of the park.ABSCONDERS HELD: The district police claim they have arrested 20 absconders during a night-long search operation.

It said 105 vehicles without number plates were also impounded.

SHORTAGE: The people were hit by an artincial shortage of LPG after the suspension of gas supply for domestic use in the city.

Since the people in the city and suburban areas have been facing the suspension of gas supply for six days, the LPG was being sold at higher rates forcing rickshaw driversto overcharge passengers.

Hotel and restaurant owners have also increased rates of meals on the pretext that they were getting the LPG at higher rates.As the crisis of gas and the LPG has deepened, dealers and retailers of the LPG have started selling gas for Rs230 per kilo instead of Rs95 fixed by Ogra.

RALLY: Women activists of the Jamaat-i-Islami staged a rally on Wednesday to condemn the Peshawar carnage.

The rally led by Dr Saboohi Wasim, wife of Punjab`s JI emir Dr Syed Wasim Akhtar, was taken out from the premises of Government Technical School near Farid Gate.

The rally paraded Circular Road and, after marching up to Library Chowk, returned to Farid Gate.

The participants expressed sympathy and solidarity with the grieved parents of the deceased schoolchildren.