BAHAWALPUR: The Punjab government has launched a project to make deserving widows of less than 60 years of age Enancially self-supporting in rural areas across the province.

The deserving widows, who have school-going children, will be provided free-of-cost buffaloes, cows, sheep and goats.

To start with, the project was launched on Monday from Bahawalpur, where a function was organized by the district adminis-tration at Dring Stadium.

At least 225 deserving widows selected from the rural areas of the five tehsils of the Bahawalpur district were given away buffaloes, cows, goats and sheep.

The ceremony was presided over by Punjab Minister for Cooperatives Malik Muhammad Iqbal Channar and participated in by Provincial Additional Secretary for Livestock Dr Iqbal Shahid, Punjab Livestock director Dr Mansoor Ahmed and other officials.

Mr Channar said that schemes had been introduced by ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif in Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Multan and Muzaffargarh districts to make widows financially sound to be able to run their families and meet education expenses of their children by upbringing the livestock in their own houses.

The minister said the chief minister had provided Rs2.70 billion fundsfor this purpose.

He said that 150 widows of Bahawalpur and Khairpur Tamewali tehsils had been given through draws one each buffalo or cow while 75 widows of rural areasof Hasilpur, Yazman and Ahmedpur East tehsils were handed over two goats or sheep each.

Earlier, Livestock director Dr Mansoor Ahmed informed the gathering that the selected widows, who owned less than one acre of agriculture land and having school-going children, were given buffaloes of Neeli Ravi, Cholistani cows or Sahiwali breed, Lohi sheep and goats of Heatal breed.

He said that field employees of the Livestock Department would provide free-of-cost treatment andvaccination to animals of widows regularly at their doorstep.

HANGING: Two convicts are expected to be hanged in the new Central Jail of Bahawalpur during the next two days.

Jail Superintendent Intizar Wali Khan said that D&SJ Rana Masood Akhtar had fixed Wednesday (tomorrow) for the execution of death row convict Muhammad Aslam of Jalalabad, Rahim Yar Khan district.

Anti-terrorist court judge Khalid Arshad had issued orders to hang death row convict Zulfiqar of 70/DB on May 28.