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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Rs480 million remains unspent since 2002: Forest Management
Revenue collected under the Forest Development Fund (FDF) for forest management is lying unutilised since 2002 due to
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Master plan seeks coastal land control for city govt
The Karachi Strategic Development Plan (KSDP 2020), better known as the master plan, recommends grant of planning control of the coastal areas to the city government so that uplift works are carried out in conformity with its waterfront development vision. At present, the coastal area land is controlled by several authorities, including the Pakistan Air Force, Pakistan Navy, Karachi Port Trust, Port Qasim Authority, Defence Housing Authority, Lyari Development Authority, Kannup, Sindh government and city government.
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Fire destroys vast forest area in Haripur
Wildfire has destroyed a vast area of forest and is feared to have killed scores of birds and animals in the hilly range of Koh-i-Gandgar in the Ghazi tehsil near the Tarbela Dam. The fire broke out on Saturday night in the forest area of the Kotehra Union Council in the Tarchiti village and spread up to the hilly range of the Baghdara village due to winds, destroying different species of trees at an area of about 300 kanals, eyewitnesses and forest officials said.
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Two cases of polio detected
Two new cases of polio have been detected -- one in Kohat and the other in Karachi in recent days, taking to 11 the number of children hit by the dreaded virus this year. The national manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Dr H B Memon, told Dawn that the Kohat case had been confirmed by authorities in Islamabad on Monday.
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Total ban on all tobacco products urged
Senior academicians and health professionals at a media briefing held here on Friday called for a total ban on the manufacturing and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco-related products, saying that these products were injurious to human health and damaging to the national economy. The briefing was organised to mark the "World No-tobacco Day' observed on Friday. The theme this year was "Tobacco-free youth'.
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Disruption in water supply stirs protest
Several towns of the city have been witnessing street protests over disruption in water supply through tankers for many days as certain hydrants taken over by the town administration weeks back have not yet be made operational. The worst-affected localities appeared to be those which were earlier receiving tanker water supplies from the now dismantled hydrants located in Muslimabad. The hydrants
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22 states hard hit by high food prices
Twenty-two mainly African countries are "especially vulnerable' to soaring food and fuel prices, according to a report by the UN food agency ahead of a summit on food security next week in Rome. "Large increases in food and fuel prices threaten macroeconomic stability and overall growth, especially of low-income, net-importing countries,' the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) notes in the report published on Wednesday.
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Demo against water shortage
Dozens of tail-end growers of Puran Distributary (canal) demonstrated outside the office of Director Nara Canal Area Water Board here on Monday against acute water shortage in canal. Protesters carried banners, raised slogans against irrigation officials and forcibly made their entry into the office in his absence. Later, talking to reporters they complained of being deprived of irrigation water for last four months which had adversely affected their crops, along with disappearance of drinking water, as well.
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Wasa told to chlorinate city water
Punjab government has directed Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) to ensure complete chlorination of pipe water being supplied to the city. The step has been taken following complaints of supply of polluted potable water to various parts of the city. New tube-wells will also be installed where ever required to overcome water shortage and the out-dated pipelines will be replaced. Meanwhile, Solid Waste Management wing of the city district government has suspended a number of sanitary workers in various parts of the city on charges of negligence.
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A peep into Gujrat water woes
A defective sewerage system, industrial effluents and deserted water filtration plants are making the people of Gujrat to drink contaminated water. Gujrat's drinking water is contaminated with coliform bacteria. According to a study, human excretion is mixing in the drinking water because of the city's 40-year-old seeping sewerage system.