20000201

Fake industrial exhibition at Sargodha

RECORDER REPORT

SARGODHA: Impersonators are looting Sargodha citizens by setting up an illegal and unauthorised exhibition in the name of 'National Industrial Exhibition' at Ramat-ul-Alamin Park.

It is learnt that the one-month long exhibition was announced by an unknown person, Azhar Mahmood, impersonating himself as an authorised official of the government.

The exhibition was scheduled to start from February 1, 2000. It was largely publicised through huge billboards, banners and hand-bills, to attract the innocent citizens for purchasing industrial products at factory rates.

It was witnessed that stalls were being set up with some No. 2 and fake types of cheaper items on display by regular employees of the impersonator Azhar Mahmood and the exhibition was not participated by any factory, mill and any industrial or business organisation.

When the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sargodha, was contacted, it said it had no information regarding the holding of any exhibition in Sargodha.

Entry tickets of Rs. 5 has also been fixed without prior permission of concerned officials and the regular visitors to the park are also being forcibly charged the fee of Rs. 5.

Inquiries have revealed that this is an outsider group of people who had previously held a similar exhibition in the new Satellite Town, Sargodha, with the assistance of theatre and well of death parties. In the era of Nawaz Sharif government these people entered Sargodha and were freely enjoying the benefit of ignorance of the administration.

In their previous attempts they had announced that a federal minister of the Nawaz Sharif government, Mushahid Hussain, will inaugurate the exhibition but the same was inaugurated by a veterinary doctor.

It is surprising how they get permission to hold the fake national level exhibition on government ground without going through formalities of obtaining permission from the industry of commerce and trade and without paying any rent and tax. It seems that the administration of Sargodha has become deaf and dumb which allowed one opportunist to plunder the citizens for reasons best known to them.