Pakistan certifies first organic cotton bale
Balochistan on Wednesday marked the certification of Pakistan's first organic cotton bale at a ceremony held at Kot Sabzal. Balochistan's Minister for Agriculture Engineer Zamrak Khan said the provincial
Dawn (Pakistan)
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Afghanistan to investigate N-waste allegation
President Hamid Karzai appointed on Wednesday a team of experts to investigate allegations that Pakistan had dumped nuclear waste in southern Afghanistan, his office said. In April, an Afghan minister told the BBC that his government had evidence Pakistan had buried its nuclear waste in the southern Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar during the 1996-2001 Taliban regime. But the minister for parliamentary affairs, Farouk Wardak, later denied he had said this. Pakistan has also rejected the claim.
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Swat child is new polio victim
A new polio case has been found in Swat district, where local Taliban have been aggressively opposing the anti-polio campaign for about a year. Seven-month-old Tanzeela of Kabal was tested positive for polio on Wednesday. Officials associated with the anti-polio drive told Dawn that the infected child had not received a single dose of oral vaccine (OPV) because of Taliban's opposition to the vaccination campaign. With this case, the number of polio victims reported this year has increased to four
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Supply of hepatitis vaccines to provinces slashed
The Ministry of Health has instructed all the provinces to concentrate on the prevention of hepatitis in accordance with the PC-1 of Prime Minister's Hepatitis Control Programme. The federal government also slashed the quantity of the hepatitis vaccines to the provinces, sources said.
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Govt sets up body to raise production of food items
The Sindh government has constituted a provincial sub-committee on production of essential food commodities.
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Fisheries dept unfolds Rs1.3bn uplift plan
The Sindh government has prepared a comprehensive programme worth Rs1,300 million envisaging 13 development schemes to upgrade the fisheries sector and for the welfare of fishermen. The uplift schemes will be in addition to the federally financed master plan for the development of aquaculture in the coastal areas and the community development project prepared by the Coastal Development Authority through the technical assistance of the Asian Development Bank.
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Operators of private water tankers raise charges by 100pc
With the prices of all commodities reaching an all-time high, operators of water tankers in the city have doubled the charges for 1,000 gallons water, citing that the filling charges have been raised and octroi charges have been placed on tankers passing through the area under the jurisdiction of Malir Cantonment Board.
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LHC seeks reply from govt on CNG prices
Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sayed Zahid Husain on Monday sought para-wise comments from the Punjab government over its failure to ensure fixed prices of the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) at various filling stations across the province. Petitioner Amjad Ali Qasim told the court that he was hit by the Punjab government's failure to implementing CNG prices as fixed by the federal government.
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Bid to smuggle out turtle meat foiled
The Sindh Wildlife Department has foiled a bid to smuggle dried meat of freshwater turtles out of the country and arrested the trafficker. Freshwater turtles are an endangered species and protected under the Sindh Wildlife Protection Ordinance and trapping and netting of, or trading in these turtles and their body parts is banned under the law.
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Ambitious coastal projects termed disastrous'
The ad hoc coastal development projects, which have been conceived and proposed in total disregard to environmental concerns, pose a serious threat to marine biodiversity and the livelihoods of 500,000 fishermen, besides putting human life at risk. The Sindh-Balochistan coast is very much vulnerable to cyclones and floods and implementation of such projects, without proper scrutiny by independent experts, is like inviting disaster.
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20,000 acres of govt land distributed illegally'
: Sindh Minister for Works and Services Manzoor Hussain Wassan has said that more than 20,000 acres of government land in Nara taluka was distributed illegally to different people by the previous government during the past seven years. He said the government would initiate an inquiry into the matter and action would be taken against those found involved in such acts. He was speaking at an open katchehry and talking to journalists at circuit house here on Monday.