Sher Gondal Mandi Bahauddin
Hundreds of ex-ser vicemen and widows of martyrs and deceased soldiers held a protest rally in front of the DC office Gujrat to allow construction of the boundary wall of DASB office premises.
Subedar Muhammad Zaman welfare officer and President Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Society (PESS) Chillianwala led the rally.
Addressing the rally, DASB welfare officers said late Lt Col Akbar Raja SJ purchased land with the money collected through donations from affluent persons including late Ch Zahoor Elahi and retired soldiers.
He built an office and guesthouses on it. Besides, 15 shops were constructed on Bhimber Road to generate income for the welfare of the windows. Later on, a mafia occupied the land and shops.
Last year ex-servicemen got the land and shops vacated with the help of the local administration.
However, after the vacation, the local administration claimed that this land was the property of Baldia. And on this plea, shops and other structures were dismantled.
Only the DASB office building was spared. The ex-servicemen with a grant from PASB started raising the boundary wall for security purposes but the district administration did not allow the construction.
Since then, the office has been without a boundary wall. At the time of the rally, the DC was absent from the office. So the ex-servicemen delegation could not present its demands before him.
The participants of the rally in a meeting decided to continue holding protests till their demand is met. The next protest rally would be held in October; they decided and dispersed disappointedly over the attitude of DC for deliberately absenting him from the office.
