DC chairs meeting to review arrangements for tackling Malaria

Mon, 28 Aug 2023, 7:31 PM

MIRPURKHAS, Aug 28 (APP):The Deputy Commissioner Mirpurkhas Noor Mustafa Leghari on Monday presided over a meeting to review

arrangements to deal with Malaria disease.

The meeting was attended by the officers of Health, Local Government, Public Health engineering, PPHI and Revenue departments.

DC expressing his great concern over the increasing number of malaria cases stressed the need for making collective efforts to prevent people from fatal disease and no laxity would be tolerated in this regard.

DC said that to make Mirpurkhas district malaria-free was among the priorities of district administration.

On this occasion, District Health Officer Dr. Jay Raam Daas sharing the data said that as many as 266005 samples were collected in Mirpurkhas district to detect malaria from January 2022 to December 2022 out of which 46541 samples were tested positive from January 2023 to July 2023 about 147334 samples were collected out of them 25753

samples found positive, similarly in this month around 41841 samples were collected out of which 13432 reports were found positive with a ratio of 32%.

He said that the main cause of detected malaria cases was climate change. Last year 521 dengue virus cases were reported in Mirpurkhas district, he added.

Relief activities going on in flood-hit areas: PDMA DG

Raiq Qureshi

Mon, 28 Aug 2023, 7:12 PM

LAHORE, Aug 28 (APP):Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Punjab Director General (DG) Imran Qureshi said on Monday that low-lying areas adjacent to Sutlej River were under flood since August 17, and relief activities were under way in the flood-affected areas.

In a statement, he said that more than 95 medical camps were providing facilities to people in the affected districts, while 20 ambulances were available to help in emergency situations all the time. More than 36,000 people had been provided treatment facilities so far.

Apart from medical, 178 relief camps were also functioning in the affected districts. Around 100,000 people had been shifted to safe places, he said and added that more than 200,000 people had been provided emergency transport facility.

The DG said that cooked food was had been provided to 70,000 people in the affected districts. One-and-a-half lakh cattle had been given preventive veterinary medicine and vaccination.

Twenty-five thousand cattle had been moved to safe places. Relief activities would continue until the issue of flood was resolved completely. All the resources were being utilised for rehabilitation of flood-affected areas, he added.

Mayor Karachi for accelerating work to bring streetlights on solar system

Raiq Qureshi

Mon, 28 Aug 2023, 7:09 PM

KARACHI, Aug 28 (APP):Mayor Karachi Barrister Murtaza Wahab on Monday directed the officials concerned that work should also be accelerated to bring streetlights to the solar system and take whatever approval is required from him.

He said this by chairing a high-level meeting with the officers of the engineering department in his office.

Earlier, as an administrator, he had started work to bring streetlights to the solar system in Karachi, but then this work was stopped, the Mayor of Karachi said. The engineering department should start the work of solar streetlights from Shahrah-e-Faisal and gradually extend it to other important roads and streets of Karachi, he said.

Murtaza said that non-functioning of street lights except load shedding hours on the city’s major corridors like Shahrah-e-Faisal, Rashid Minhas Road, Shahrah-e-Pakistan, Mai Kolachi Road, M.T.Khan Road and other main roads and highways cannot be tolerated any further.

He said that the engineering department must ensure that the street lights installed on all these roads are kept lit within a week and the concerned engineers should visit the areas personally and take immediate steps where required, but provide convenience to the citizens at any cost.

On this occasion, Deputy Mayor Karachi Salman Abdullah Murad, Municipal Commissioner Syed Afzal Zaidi, Director General Engineering Azhar Hussain Shah, S.E Electrical & Mechanical Abbas Ali Shah, S.E I & QC Anees Ahmed Khan, Chief Engineers of various zones and districts, XENs, Executive Engineers and other officers were also present.

Mayor Karachi took strict notice of the shutdown of streetlights on various main roads and streets of the city during the meeting and directed the Director General Engineering to fix the vigilance system immediately.

He said the engineers and other officers should go and inspect themselves everywhere and restore the street lights immediately wherever the system is not working. A week later on September 04, he himself will visit the city to see that the orders given have been complied with and how far has it been implemented, he said.

He said that KMC does not have to pay the bill for streetlights as all payments are made by the Sindh government. However, switching off the streetlights on the streets of Karachi is not acceptable.

He said that there has been a discussion with the officials of K-Electric and they will solve all the issues with K-Electric.

Massive fraud exposed in Peshawar valley housing society

Raiq Qureshi

Mon, 28 Aug 2023, 7:07 PM

PESHAWAR, Aug 28 (APP):Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar, Shah Fahad, unveiled a large-scale fraud within the Peshawar Valley housing society.

In a statement released on Monday, he revealed that 1,375 kanals of land had been fraudulently transferred.

Assistant Commissioner Rao Hashim conducted an inquiry into public complaints, verifying the deceitful transfer.

The DC further announced the annulment of the fake land transfer and the suspension of three revenue officials involved in the falsified transaction.

He recommended the dismissal of officials implicated in the fraudulent transfer and suggested legal action.

Over the last six months, 13 officials have been suspended due to corruption, while 5 others have been dismissed.

He emphasized that no leniency would be extended to officials involved in fraud, and those found guilty would face termination from their positions.

President Alvi for strengthening financial inclusion, gender equality

Raiq Qureshi

Mon, 28 Aug 2023, 7:02 PM

KARACHI, Aug 28 (APP):President Dr Arif Alvi Monday asked the banking institutions to take measures to further strengthening financial inclusion and gender equality in the sector.

Besides ensuring easy and accessible financial services to women and differently-abled persons, he emphasized the banking sector to focus on providing more employment opportunities and financing facilities as well as extending job training and financial literacy to them.

The president was chairing a meeting of representatives of banking industry here at the Sindh Governor House to review progress on initiatives aimed at financial inclusion of women and differently-abled persons, progress on measures taken to ensure employment and financial opportunities for them, and other issues of the banking industry.

The meeting was attended by senior officials of State Bank of Pakistan and chief executive officers of different commercial banks.

Terming meaningful participation of women in economic activities vital for progress and prosperity of the country, the president said it was encouraging to see the ratio of female in bank account holders and banking sector jobs had recorded a significant growth in previous years but still more efforts were required by the sector to promote gender equality and inclusion of all segments of the society for achieving the objectives of inclusive banking.

He said the jobs for the people with disabilities could be tailored in the banking industry and the process of bank account opening could be made easy further.

President Alvi also proposed the bank officials to explore part-time job avenues in their institutions for the household women.

Referring to the fast-paced growth of digital technologies across the world, he said the banking industry in Pakistan had to keep pace with the evolving trends with the maximum use of information technology as “the IT driven financial inclusion at the grassroots level not only encourages taxable economy, but also contributes to the country’s economic development”.

Increased use of the IT in the banking industry had also exposed the sector to frauds, and that was why a regulatory mechanism of safety and ease was equally important, he added.

The president emphasized the need for fast-track decision-making process, besides addressing banking services issues through a regulatory framework, and fair and just redressal mechanism.

Dr Alvi said creating awareness at the community level about banking issues was a global practice and urged the bankers to sensitize the people about their products and services through modern means of communication.

Public sensitization played a critical role in saving lives during the COVID-19 pandemic and lethal diseases like breast cancer, he added.

Urging for reviewing and updating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) regulations, the president asked the banks to do the maximum in fields of financial literacy and environment.

The SBP officials and heads of commercial banks informed the president that measures like branch-less banking, easing the process of accounts opening particularly for women and persons with disabilities and banking on equality resulted into increased ratio of women both as account holders and jobs in the banks while 2% disability quota was also being ensured in the sector.

Begum Samina Arif Alvi is being presented with memento during the interactive dialogue Session on Breast Cancer Awareness, Mental Health and Inclusion of Differently Abled Persons organized by World Health Organization, at Hamdard University

Khuram Maryam

Mon, 28 Aug 2023, 7:01 PM

APP28-280823 KARACHI: August 28 - Begum Samina Arif Alvi is being presented with memento during the interactive dialogue Session on Breast Cancer Awareness, Mental Health and Inclusion of Differently Abled Persons organized by World Health Organization, at Hamdard University. APP/TZD/ZID

Energy Ministry finalizes recommendations on electricity bills: Solangi

NNPS Desk

Mon, 28 Aug 2023, 6:57 PM

ISLAMABAD, Aug 28 (APP): Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi on Monday said that the Ministry of Energy had finalized recommendations related to the electricity bills.

The recommendations were finalized in a high-level meeting held at the Ministry of Energy, the minister said while posting a news release of the ministry on X (formerly known as Twitter).

According to his post, the recommendations would be forwarded to the Federal Cabinet, scheduled to meet on Tuesday, for approval.