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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Four fall victim to gastro in Arifwala
Three women and a youth died of gastroenteritis in the last two days in Goriya and Farid Shah villages, Arifwala tehsil. Reports say that residents of these villages have been complaining about stomach pain to local nazims, but they have never taken it seriously. Located under the shadow of Arifwala, both villages have no Basic Health Unit. Those died were identified as Meena Bibi, 30, Nazira Bibi, 29, Kausar Bibi and Kashif.
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Flood-hit areas await survey a year after devastation
Almost a year has passed since floods inundated three tehsils in Makran around the Mirani Dam, but the government has not carried out a survey to determine the extent of losses. The flood inflicted property losses running into millions of rupees and dislocated several hundreds of families. Thousands of displaced flood victims are still living in tents while others have been forced to live in the open after their houses were washed away in the heavy flood that affected the Turbat district.
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Cleanliness drive to justify new tax planned
In its bid to persuade the city's inhabitants to happily accept the newly levied "public utility charges' and pay them regularly, the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has planned a "special cleanliness drive' in all the 18 towns of the metropolis.
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Canal breach floods villages, farmland
Two villages, Beguli Buledi and Karim Dino Buledi, and hundreds of acres of agricultural land were inundated after Begari Canal developed a 100-foot wide breach near Garhi Khairo late on Sunday night. The affected villagers, Karim Bux Buledi, Ghulam Mohammad Buledi and other blamed irrigation officials for the breach and said that they did not take any notice despite several complaints about vulnerability of the canal's embankments, which ultimately caused them losses of millions of rupees. The breach had not been plugged till the filing of this report.
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Shortage of water at tail-end of canals slated
The recently-formed Sindh Tail Abadgar Welfare Board on Monday blamed
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Rs90m CHK development project near completion'
Sindh Health Minister Dr Saghir Ahmed has said that the development project being executed at the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) at a cost of Rs90 million is in its final stage of completion. The project envisages upgrading of cardiac unit, gastro investigation unit, gynae I, II and III, surgical units IV and V and plastic surgery unit, besides installation of modern lifts for the urology unit.
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Concern raised over rising number of polio cases
The Centre for People's Empowerment and Equality (CPEE) at a meeting of its executive committee here on Sunday expressed concern over rising number of polio cases in the country, particularly in Sindh, as 11 confirmed cases were reported in the first half of the year. The meeting of the CPEE held with its chairperson Nasreen Shakeel Pathan in the chair discussed detection of fresh polio cases and observed that the country was most likely to miss the target of being polio free status.
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No compromise on nuclear programme: Musharraf
Pakistan's nuclear programme will continue unabated and it will not be compromised, according to President Pervez Musharaf. Speaking at a meeting with Director-General of the Strategic Planning Division Lt-Gen (retd) Khalid Ahmad Kidwai, who called on him at the Army House in Rawalpindi on Saturday, the president said there would be no compromise over national nuclear capability and minimum deterrence would be maintained. Gen Kidwai updated the president on Pakistan's strategic programmes, spokesman for the president Maj-Gen (retd) Rashid Qureshi said.
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Tail-end farmers decry water shortage: Dadu Canal
Vast swaths of farm lands could not be cultivated due to unfair distribution of water to the tail-enders of Dadu Canal where a number of modules and watercourses were found tempered with and tail-ends of different canals ran dry in Dadu, Johi, Paat Sharif, Sita and Bhan Syedabad sub -divisions of Southern division of Irrigation department.
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Rs71bn deficit budget for Balochistan
The cash-strapped Balochistan government on Saturday announced a budget of Rs71.19 billion for financial year 2008-09 which showed a deficit of Rs8.80 billion. "Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has promised to provide Rs3 billion special grant from his discretionary fund,' Balochistan Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd informed the provincial assembly in his budget speech. With this grant, the budget deficit would come down to Rs5.80 billion, which would be met by enhancing province's own resources, he added.