CHAKWAL, JUN 25 – Today, Dr. Sania Nishtar, made an unannounced visit to Talagang Tehsil of Chakwal together with Ehsaas team. This was the first visit of Dr. Sania since the payments began on June 16, 2021 under the phase II of Ehsaas Emergency Cash.

At the cash distribution site in Municipal Administration offices,she interacted with Ehsaas beneficiaries who had come to collect their payments.

Each one of them had 8171 messages on their phones to collect cash emergency cash or Kafaalat handout of Rs. 12,000.All of them had been identified and declared eligible through the new Ehsaas survey.

The Ehsaas Emergency Cash disbursements to the beneficiaries have been commenced last week. However, payments to newly enrolled Ehsaas Kafaalat beneficiaries are underway since January 2021. Also, the payments to new enrolees being identified through Ehsaas survey are underway.

Besides, several beneficiaries had come with their children to collect the quarterly payment of Ehsaas primary education conditional cash transfer (CCT) stipends.Dr. Sania also witnessed the quarterly payment of Ehsaas education stipends being made to mothers of children.As per Ehsaas policy, all payments are biometrically verified in real time. Girls get Rs. 2000 and boys get Rs. 1500 per quarter, when 70% school attendance is ensured.

Later, Dr. Sania joined children and their mothers at Government Boys High School, Akwal in Talagangto witness new enrolments of children from poorest households under the Ehsaas education CCT. She sat with children and mothers who were waiting in the queue to get enrolled in the programme for quarterly stipends. She also oversaw details of a child being entered in the end-to-end digital enrolment system.

Regional team of Ehsaas briefed Dr. Sania on the recently launched nationwide drive to enrol deserving children for Ehsaas educational stipends. The campaign is being rolled out at Tehsil levels in close coordination with provinces, district administration and key development stakeholders. The campaign primarily aims to enhance primary school enrolments and minimize dropouts.The Ehsaas drive entails social mobilization through Tehsil level Ehsaas field teams, compliance monitors, school teachers and mosque announcements. The Ehsaas education CCT programme is currently being executed at primary level educationacross all districts of Pakistan.

“Ehsaas is also introducing a one-time graduation bonus of Rs. 3,000 to encourage girls completing primary education.The central reason for this incentive is to tackle gender disparity in education. This will also ensure that every girl child after receiving the graduation bonus gets enrolled in secondary education programme”, said Dr. Sania while talking to local press and media.

Poverty is one of the most persistent barriers to acquiring education. Education Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) are an important component of Ehsaas and are included in the Ehsaas framework as Policy #73 ‘Education CCTs.

ISLAMABAD, JUN 25 (DNA) – President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday, taking note of the grievance of a domestic gas consumer, directed the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) to reconsider the exorbitant bill and provide him relief through ‘average billing’. 

The complainant Ghulam Rasool had filed a representation with the President of Pakistan against the order of Wafaqi Mohtasib, wherein his case was closed without extending him any relief.

The complainant had approached the Wafaqi Mohtasib after receiving an “exessive and unjust” bill of Rs 20,100 for the month of December, 2019 by SNGPL following the replacement of a faulty gas metre installed at the mosque.

However, on finding no remedy to his grievance, the complainant made a plea to the President of Pakistan for a possible relief. 

President Alvi in his written order mentioned that the investigation of the case showed that “the bill of December was quite high compared with prior months and thus was liable to be reconsidered by the SNGPL”.

“In such view of the matter, the Agency [SNGPL] needs to reconsider the bill on the average basis and provide possible relief to the complainant,” he wrote in his order.

The President, therefore, disposed of the representation with a direction to SNGPL to provide relief to the complainant through average billing.=DNA

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ISLAMABAD, JUN 25 (DNA) – Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) said that the coronavirus positivity rate in Islamabad has now come down to less than 1 percent and urged that the government should restore all businesses to normal timings without any restrictions along with allowing indoor dining & functions in restaurants, weddings halls & marquees as these businesses have suffered huge losses due to ban on their indoor business activities. 

Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said that ICCI in collaboration with NCOC, DHO and other stakeholders launched an active vaccination drive in the federal capital by opening vaccination centres in markets and industrial areas.

This drive covered almost 90 percent of Islamabad for vaccination, which led to marked reduction in coronavirus cases, therefore, it was the right time that the government should restore all businesses to normal operations so that they could revive business activities and play a more effective role in uplifting the economy.

ICCI President said that thousands of workers were employed in restaurants, wedding halls and marquees, but due to the ban on their indoor activities to control the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, these businesses have suffered badly and were facing multiple problems.

He said that due to the continued ban on their indoor economic activity, many restaurants, wedding halls and marquees have suffered closure due to which hundreds of thousands of workers have lost their jobs.

He cautioned that keeping a ban on indoor activities of these businesses would render more workers jobless that would create social unrest.   

Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said that the government should defer the bank loans for one year and waive off utility bills of those businesses that remained closed due to Covid-19 pandemic. He further said that the government should also provide financial support to the workers of closed businesses from Ehsaas Emergency Cash program to alleviate their financial problems.

He was of the view that with less than 1 percent positivity rate of Covid-19 pandemic, there was no need to keep restrictions on business timings and urged that the government should now restore all businesses to routine operations.=DNA

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Abrar ul Haq urges people to get themselves vaccinated at the earliest to rid country of pandemic

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has expanded its recently launched campaign for door-to-door and mobile vaccination against Covid-19 virus in order to contain the spread of pandemic in the country.

As part of the initiative, door-to-door vaccination drive is in full swing in the territorial limits of Islamabad Capital Territory in collaboration with the Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA). PRCS volunteers as well as ambulances are engaged for vaccination of people at their doorsteps. The initiative has been launched to facilitate such people who have got themselves registered but cannot go to designated vaccination facilities for any reasons.

PRCS has also signed an MoU with Department of Health, Government of AJK, for ‘Corona Free Kashmir Initiative’ under which eligible persons will be vaccinated through mobile vaccination units in different districts of the region.

In another development, PRCS in collaboration with the Health Department of Government of Sindh and National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has opened two mobile Covid-19 vaccination units in Karachi at Dolmen Mall and Lucky One Mall. Besides this, PRCS is also establishing static vaccination centres at Hilal-e-Ahmer House in Clifton and Red Crescent Medical Centre Gurumandir. Preparations are also underway to establish vaccination centers at Pakistan Red Crescent Hospitals in different districts of Sindh, Baluchistan and Tribal areas.

In a statement on the occasion, PRCS Chairman Abrar ul Haq said the fight against Covid-19 pandemic has entered a decisive phase as fresh cases are on continuous decline due to stringent enforcement of safety guidelines by the government, coupled by people’s cooperation and a robust vaccination drive. He said the third wave of coronavirus was dangerous, more contagious and deadlier as compared to the first two spells, however the Covid-19 positivity ratio is now going down with each passing day. He said life has started coming back to normal in most parts of the country.

Abrar ul Haq urged the people to get themselves vaccinated at the earliest as the government has announced to allow walk-in facility for every individual eligible for vaccination in the country. He also cautioned the people continue to strictly follow health and safety guidelines in order to help the country defeat the disease.

Regarding the vaccination initiatives launched by the PRCS in different parts of the country, Abrar ul Haq said the community-level intervention aims at ensuring that every individual is vaccinated against Covid-19 so that spread of deadly virus is contained and precious lives are saved. He said the PRCS volunteers and healthcare professionals have been working tirelessly from day one to contribute to the ongoing national effort to overcome the spread of Covid-19 in the country through a synergised response.

Abrar ul Haq said the Red Crescent Corona Care Hospital (RCCH) in Rawalpindi has selflessly served people during the pandemic wherein hundreds of Covid-19 patients were treated free of cost. He said it is a matter of great honour for the PRCS that the RCCH was designated by the government as a mass vaccination centre for Covid-19 where thousands of people have been vaccinated so far. He said efforts of the PRCS to help the vulnerable segments of the society will continue with utmost commitment until the monster is completely defeated.

Meet micronutrient deficiency, reduce contamination from pathogens and residues of chemicals and pesticides

ISLAMABAD, JUN 25 (DNA) – Insufficient intake of balanced diet rich in proteins, vitamins and micronutrients (Fe, Zn), folates, and unaffordability/inaccessibility to food rich in nutrition, along with adulteration, lack of education about healthy food and imbalanced food habits are main reasons for stunted growth in children and due to Iron deficiency anemia in women, which is increasing at alarming rate, said National and International experts while speaking at International Webinar on “A Way Forward to Food Quality and Food Safety”, held on online.

More than 1000 participants attended the event virtually. The event was organized by University of Agriculture, Faisalabad and Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum (PAS Forum) in collaboration with, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FPCCI), National Alliance for Safe Food (NAFS), UK-Pakistan Science and Innovation Global Network (UPSIGN), COMSTECH and Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD).

Mian Abdul Rasheed from FPCCI inaugurated the event by offering full support from the industry to work with academia to address the food quality crisis in Pakistan through innovations. Prof. Khurshid Hasanain, Advisor COMSTECH emphasized the need for collaboration among Muslim world to tackle the food quality crises and learn from each other.  Dr. Omer Mukhtar from PCSIR Labs highlighted the nutritional status of Pakistan population indicating severe issue of micronutrient malnutrition in Pakistan. Food fortification, supplementation and biofortification are some of solutions to address the challenges, highlighted by International speakers, Professor Nicola Lowe from UCLAN University, Dr. Jalil Miyan from University of Manchester and Dr. Khalid Mahmood, UPSIN/Rothamsted Research.

Access to safe food free from pathogens, chemicals, pesticide residues is another challenge which need to be addressed through transformation in food systems especially food value chain, and promoting the use of fair & clearly written food labels. Pakistan faces the challenge of access to cold chain that add another layer affecting the shelf life of perishable food products that includes milk, meat and fresh vegetables, noted the experts.

An important highlight of the webinar panel discussion was how farmers and consumers could take advantage of the low-cost technologies to enhance the shelf life and quality of the food products. There is need to create a culture of responsibility on maintaining the minimum food standards from farm to fork. The consumer awareness could play important role to implement such change in the food system, discussed the panelists.

The panel discussion was facilitated by Dr. Shinawar Ali, from Punjab University and chaired by Dr. Khalid Mahmood along with panelist Prof. Tahir Zahoor, Dr. Muhammad Riaz and Muhammad Awais Khan from National Alliance for Food Safe also emphasized the need for combining research, industry and policy making to deliver safe food to consumers.

There is need to work together including private sector under the guideline provided by national and international scientists on innovative technologies and provide awareness to farmers as well as consumers, said, Dr. Abdul Wakeel, President Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum.

Professor Anas Sarwar Qureshi, Vice Chancellor Agri-Varsity who was also the chief guest of the event, stressed that biofortification seems to be very sustainable strategy to address the micronutrient malnutrition in developing countries with predominant cereal based diet. Participants applauded the webinar that such kind of forum should be arranged with maximum interaction of researchers, stakeholders and policy people to discuss the challenges and solutions.=DNA

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ISLAMABAD, June 25 : Five Chinese fishing vessels at Gwadar Anchorage calling for emergent shelter from the monsoon of the Indian Ocean were slandered by Indian media as pillagers of fishery resources in Pakistan.

However, such an allegation seemed to be on shaky ground, according to Gwadar Pro.

As per the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Karachi, the five Chinese fishing vessels at Gwadar Anchorage were calling for emergent shelter from the monsoon of the Indian Ocean on May 27.

The aforesaid Chinese vessels were only 5 nautical miles away from the Gwadar port and have informed all the relevant authorities such as Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA), Model Customs Collectorate Gwadar (MCC Gwadar), Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) and Balochistan Fisheries Department (Fisheries) on June 4.

According to the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Karachi, these Chinese vessels would like to stay at Gwadar Anchorage and Gwadar Port to maintain machines, replenish stocks, etc.

The Chinese crew, who took shelter from the monsoon, told Gwadar Pro that the fishing boat arrived in the international waters of the Indian Ocean in late November 2020 for fishing.

As the southwest monsoon prevailed in the northern part of the Indian Ocean in mid-May this year, the fleet started to enter Pakistan’s territorial waters from the high seas to take shelter from the wind.

“In the fishing ground where our fleet operates, the wind gust can reach level 7-8 every day; the sea waves can reach 2.5-3.6 meters; and the surges can reach 1-1.8 meters.

Under such circumstances, the fishing boats are shaking terribly, which poses a very big safety risk,” the crew said, adding that things got worse when the engines of two of the fishing vessels malfunctioned and they had to get shelter as soon as possible.

Gwadar Port is the closest port to our fishing ground. And we all know that Pakistan is our iron-clad brother, that’s why we headed to Gwadar Port.”

According to the Chinese fishery company, they were in full compliance with the rules of International waters with related documents during their stay in Pakistani territorial waters, and did not conduct any Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.

On June 11, Pakistani media Azadi News posted a video on YouTube showing these Chinese fishing boats heading for Gwadar Port, alleging that Chinese fishing boats plunder Baluchistan’s fishing resources.

On June 13, India’s Asian News Agency (ANI) made an issue of the news and slandered Chinese fishing boats in Gwadar are endangering the livelihood of the people of Baluchistan. And Pakistan’s English newspaper released a follow-up report.