Chief Minister briefed about situation of locust, coronvirus

RAHIM YAR KHAN: Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar chaired a meeting here on Thursday in which Commissioner Bahawalpur Division Asif Iqbal Chaudhry briefed him about the anti-locust drive and coronavirus situation.

The Chief Minister directed all out efforts to be made to save the crops from locust attack and strict compliance of anti-coronavirus standard operation procedures (SOPs) to be adopted.

The markets and commercial areas will be sealed in case of SOPs’ violation, he warned and added that he is visiting different districts and timely decisions are taken.

The people should follow governmental SOPs and legal action will be initiated against individuals and business entities in case of non-compliance, he said.

Chief Minister was told that out of 8598 suspected coronavirus patients, 752 were tested positive while 370 have been recovered in the Bahawalpur division.

Three field hospitals of 505-beds capacity have been established.

A total of 3507 have been tested in Bahawalpur. Similarly, anti-dengue measures have also been taken along with an effective locust surveillance mechanism in Bahawalpur.

95535 hectares area has been sprayed and two airplanes along-with more than 50 vehicles are being utilized to curb the locust attack.

More than 10 million acres of land was under surveillance in Bahawalpur division and experts are hired to control locust attack.

Meanwhile, 6666 metric ton wheat has been recovered by registering 118 FIRs against anti-social elements involved in the hoarding of wheat.

Rs. 7.5 billion is distributed in more than six lac and 25 thousand needy families in Bahawalpur under Ehsaas Cash Emergency Programme.

The meeting offered Fateha for the father of MNA Javed Iqbal Warraich MNA and son of Aamer Nawaz Chandia.