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Tag: Sindh

  • Heatwave intensifies, Disaster Management Authorities on high alert

    Heatwave intensifies, Disaster Management Authorities on high alert

    Keeping in view the meteorological department’s prognosis of a heatwave for the coming week, the Punjab government issued an advisory on Friday, requesting that all relevant ministries in the province take steps to mitigate the effects of the heat.

    The provincial and district crisis management agencies have been activated across the province to avert health-related occurrences, according to Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal, who issued an advisory to several ministries.

    Hospitals and the emergency service Rescue 1122 have also been placed on high alert, he said. For sensitive areas, temporary water-drinking sites and early reaction centers, according to the chief secretary, should be erected. He urged individuals to take all necessary precautions to protect themselves from the heatwave and to heed the health department’s advice.

    The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has already issued a warning for severe heatwave conditions in upper, central, and southern Punjab during the next week.

    Read more: Rescue 1122 service to officially launch in Karachi this month

    From May 15, a high-pressure system is expected to hold the upper atmosphere, according to the Met Office.

    Day temperatures are expected to rise to 7-9 degrees Celsius above normal owing to the high pressure in upper Punjab, and 6-8 degrees Celsius beyond average in the central and south Punjab, during the heatwave.

  • Rescue 1122 service to officially launch in Karachi this month

    Rescue 1122 service to officially launch in Karachi this month

    On May 30, the Sindh government will finally launch the Rescue 1122 service in Karachi, which would provide emergency aid to those in need.

    The approval was announced at a briefing held on Thursday at the Sindh Secretariat, with Sindh Chief Secretary Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput in the chair. The initiative to open the trauma center and Rescue 1122 service in Larkana would also be finished by May 30, according to relevant officials.

    Later on, the service would be expanded to include the province’s other divisions. The meeting resolved that on the motorway and the Indus Highway, fire engines and ambulances would be available every 50 kilometers.

    Once the ambulance service is established under the Rescue 1122 service, the fire department would follow suit. Barrister Murtaza Wahab, the Administrator of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister on Law, said that a fleet of 50 ambulances will begin operating in Karachi on May 30 as part of the Rescue 1122 service.

    According to him, the Sindh government chose to introduce the rescue service in Karachi after improving the city’s civic infrastructure and transportation amenities. Under the rescue plan, he said, a quick response centre would be constructed in the city every 10 kilometres.

    Read more: Met department predicts torrential rains starting next week

    Meanwhile, another meeting, chaired by the Sindh chief secretary, resolved to enlist the help of the Sindh police and Rangers to combat wheat hoarding and smuggling in the state.

  • Met department predicts torrential rains starting next week

    Met department predicts torrential rains starting next week

    The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has predicted torrential rainfall starting next week, putting an end to the brutal heatwave in most parts of Pakistan.

    As per the latest PMD forecast, a new weather system will develop in the country from Sunday, attracting downpours from the May 16 to May18.

    Heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected in Islamabad, upper and central Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan, and Azad Jammu Kashmir. Following the rain, the PMD predicts that temperatures in these areas will decrease radically.

    In addition, the PMD has directed that the relevant Disaster Management Authorities be on high alert in order to avert loss of life and property throughout the rainfall.

    In other news, the PMD has warned that a severe heatwave will approach Sindh. The extreme heat will extend through May 17th, with daytime temperatures in most regions exceeding usual.

    Read more: Heatwave Alert: All physical activities in Punjab schools suspended

    Daytime highs in upper Sindh will linger between 46°C and 48°C, in central Sindh districts between 43°C and 45°C, and in lower Sindh districts between 38°C and 40°C.

  • 49 buses arrive Karachi for Orange Line BRT, intra-city service

    49 buses arrive Karachi for Orange Line BRT, intra-city service

    A total of 49 buses procured for the Orange Line BRT project and the Intra-District Peoples Bus Service reached Karachi port on May 11.

    In June 2016, Syed Qaim Ali Shah laid the foundation stone for the Orange Line, predicting that the project will be finished in a year.

    After six years, the project is still unfinished. The Sindh Mass Transit Authority (SMTA) and contractors had originally been granted until November 2021 to complete the building of the Orange Line BRT track, however, they had missed the deadline.

    The provincial minister has directed the SMTA to finish the civil and electrical work for the Orange Line BRT by the end of this month. The Orange Line BRT is named after Abdul Sattar Edhi.

    Read more: CNG prices pushed to Rs140 per kg for sales tax collection

    As the 49 buses landed at the port, Sindh Transport and Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon tweeted that the remaining buses were on their way and will come in phases over the coming months.

  • Who is going to be the next governor of Sindh?

    Who is going to be the next governor of Sindh?

    The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led government has decided to appoint their party ally Muttahida Qaumi Move­ment-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) senior leader Nasreen Jalil as the governor of Sindh.

    If Jalil becomes the next governor, she would be the second female governor in the province’s history after the first Prime Minister (PM) Liaquat Ali Khan’s wife Begum Raana Liaquat Ali Khan who served in the 1970s.

    The office of the Sindh governor fell vacant on April 12 when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) leader Imran Ismail resigned, hours before PM Shehbaz Sharif took oath as the premier of Pakistan.

    Nasreen Jalil was born in Lahore but she spent most of her time in Karachi. In her childhood, she lived in London. She went to Paris for her education. She joined MQM and started her political career in Karachi. She served as a senator two times. Nasreen Jalil had been elected as chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights in 1994 and 2012.

    Following the news, the former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry took to Twitter, saying the “crime minister” has proposed the name of Nasreen Jalil as Sindh governor. He claimed that Jalil had written a letter to the Indian high commissioner on June 18, 2015, and sought ‘help’ against Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies.

    Similarly, PTI’s Imran Ismail and former Sindh governor said that it appears that in order to become part of the present government it has become ‘imperative’ that one should be on bail or an “expert of vicious attacks” on security institutions.

    Responding to Ismail’s tweet, Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Senator Faisal Subzwari cleared that the letter was written to all diplomats.

    He admitted that it was the party office’s mistake that the name of the Indian diplomat was not excluded from the list of diplomats. However, this letter surfaced in 2015 and its contents were before everyone.

  • NEPRA hikes power tariff by Rs2.86 per unit

    NEPRA hikes power tariff by Rs2.86 per unit

    The National Electric Electricity Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has increased the power price by Rs2.86 per unit for the month of March 2022 due to Fuel Charges Adjustment (FCA) and also issued a notification in this regard.

    As per NEPRA’s notice, power consumers of Ex Wapda Distribution Companies (DISCOS) will be charged an increase of Rs2.86 per unit on account of FCA for March 2022 in their electricity bills for May 2022, resulting in an added strain of Rs29 billion on consumers, along with General Sales Tax (GST).

    The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) had urged the administration to raise the electricity tariff by Rs3.16 per unit. Except for lifeline and K-Electric (KE) customers, the hike will apply to all consumer categories.

    Read more: Pakistan starts oil and gas production from Dhok Sultan DS X-1

    Moreover, the authority also announced Rs1.38 per unit increase for K-Electric customers. For the month of February 2022, Karachi Electric (KE) requested an increase of Rs3.45 per unit. The hike will be billed to electricity customers in May 2022, according to the announcement. Except for lifeline customers who use less than 100 units per month, the tariff increase would affect all KE customers.

  • Pakistan Railways announces two ‘Eid special trains’

    Pakistan Railways announces two ‘Eid special trains’

    Pakistan Railways announced on Monday that it will run two Eid special trains from Karachi to Peshawar and Lahore on April 29 and April 30, respectively, for commuter convenience during Eid-ul-Fitr.

    One special train would depart from Karachi to Lahore and the other from Karachi to Peshawar, according to railway authorities at the Karachi Division’s Divisional Superintendent office.

    First Train – Karachi to Peshawar

    According to them, the first train will depart Karachi for Peshawar at 2:30 pm. on April 29, 2022. The train will pass through Karachi Cantt, Landhi Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Rohri Khanpur Bahawalpur, Multan, Khanewal, Shorkot Cantt, Toba Tek Singh, Gojra, Faisalabad, Chiniot, Chenab Nagar, Shaheenabad, Sargodha, Mandi Bahauddin, Lala Musa, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Taxila and finally reach Peshawar at 11:00 pm

    The train will include 14 economy class carriages. A total of 1,000 passengers will be able to board this train.

    Second Train – Karachi to Lahore

    The second special train would depart Karachi Cantt at 7:45 pm on April 30, 2022, for Lahore.

    It would travel through Landhi, Hyderabad, Nawab Shah, Rohri, Sadiqabad, Rahim Yar Khan Khanpur, Bahawalpur, Multan Cantt, Khanewal, Mian Channu Chichawatni, and other cities before arriving in Lahore at 03:30 the next day.

  • Justice for Dadu fire victims, demands Twitter

    Justice for Dadu fire victims, demands Twitter

    Nine children, a woman lost their lives and more than 20 other persons including women suffered severe burns after a fire broke out in three villages in Dadu district of Sindh Province on Monday night.

    Dadu Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Irfan Ali Samoo confirmed the deaths.

    The fire reportedly broke out in the kitchen of a small hut. More than 150 buffaloes, cows, goats and other animals also perished in the fire.

    According to the affected families, the blaze started around 9 pm on Monday and raged throughout the villages, over the next 12 hours. No fire tenders reached the village until it subsided at 8 am in the morning, they said. Moreover, they told that even the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Dadu and other officials had arrived after 12 hours

    The villagers later held a protest against the administration and urged the provincial government to take notice of the situation.

    Following the news, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif said the federal government will take measures to provide relief to the victim families of the fire incident. 

    Due to devastating effect that the incident has left on people, social media users have strongly condemned it and questioned the incompetency of the concerned authorities.

    https://twitter.com/SaifSamejo/status/1516561598948659200?s=20&t=T1PFVBvdrZwfUzIpOmOZtA
    https://twitter.com/arshadalikhoso/status/1516714870342754310?s=20&t=T1PFVBvdrZwfUzIpOmOZtA
  • Names of PPP MNA, MPA removed from charge sheet in Nazim Jokhio murder case

    Names of PPP MNA, MPA removed from charge sheet in Nazim Jokhio murder case

    The names of 13 accused persons including Pakistan People’s Party MNA Jam Abdul Karim and his brother MPA Jam Owais, were removed from the charge sheet of Nazim Jokhio murder case submitted in the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) .

    The charge sheet was submitted in the trial court following instructions by the Sindh High Court. The investigation officer had informed the high court that the charge sheet of the case was pending with prosecutor general office for the past couple of months due to its scrutiny.

    The names of others accused excluded from the charge sheet included Mohammad Saleem, Dodo Khan, Mohammad Soomar, Abdul Razzak, Jamal Ahmed, Mohammad Miraj, Mohammad Khan, Mohammad Ishaque, Ahmed Khan, Atta Mohammad and Zahid Ali.

    On November 3 last year, the tortured dead body of Nazim Jokhio was found at the farmhouse of PPP MPA Jam Awais’ in Malir area of Karachi, a day after he filmed a group of foreigners hunting the endangered houbara bustard in his Achar Salaar village in Thatta. According to Nazim Jokhio’s brother, Nazim had broadcast a live stream on social media of a hunting expedition involving foreign guests of PPP MPA Jam Awais, after which Jam Awais called Nazim to the house where he was allegedly murdered.

  • CNG stations in Sindh to open on April 11

    CNG stations in Sindh to open on April 11

    On April 6, the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) ordered the three-day closure of all compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in Sindh.

    According to a statement from the gas company, all CNG stations will remain closed for 72 hours, starting at 8 AM on Friday and ending at 8 AM on Monday.

    The CNG stations were closed in the province to address the gas shortage in the country and as a part of the gas load management plan.

    “Due to the short supply of gas in the SSGCL system, the availability of gas has diminished, resulting in line pack depletion and low pressure in the system,” according to the statement.

    “All CNG stations in Sindh (including those using RLNG) would stay closed in accordance with the current sectoral priority order for gas load management”.

    It is worth noting that CNG dealers had reopened their business on February 14 after a two-and-a-half-month hiatus. Following the gas load management plan, gas supplies to the CNG sector were suspended from December 1, 2021, to February 15, 2022.

    The unavailability of CNG multiplied the problems of the common man as the masses were forced to top their automobiles up with Petrol, which nearly touched Rs160 during that period.