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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Red tape virus infects Children's Hospital
The ghost of PC-1 has been hindering the project of Children's Complex in Multan for the last many years. The negligent delay has increased the cost of the project from Rs975 million to Rs1.75 billion, sources reveal to Dawn. The story of the red-tapped project dates back to 1998, when then chief minister Shahbaz Sharif announced a 300-bed Children's Complex for Multan.
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Piped water still an unfulfilled dream
For the uninitiated, it is almost surreal: men and boys, stepping out of their homes into the unpaved and narrow alleys of Nursery Town, in Korangi 2-1/2, as the clock strikes three in the night, armed with rolls of colourful plastic tubing. Dropping the pipes to their fixed post, they retrace to fetch the next batch of equipment
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Half of water Samples have faecal contents: Survey of Lahore
It is shocking but true that about half of the city's population has been drinking water having faecal contents, and even those living in the so-called posh areas are not exempted. According to the Institute of Public Health, waste discharged from bowels (faeces) has been found in about half of the drinking water samples collected from almost all parts of Lahore. The samples tested by the institute were sent to it by different agencies including the city district government during the first two weeks of the month.
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Glacier burst floods vast area in Hunza
A glacier burst caused a second flooding in four days in Upper Hunza on Sunday, damaging orchards and villagers' property. The flooding suspended traffic on the Karakoram Highway. Last Thursday, the glacier's snout had blocked the regular flow of a river in Gulkhin village, causing a flood that disrupted life and communication in Gojal tehsil, some 145 kilometres north of Gilgit and close to the border with China. Traffic was resumed in the area on Friday after the Chinese engineers along with FWO personnel working on the KKH expansion project repaired the road.
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Govt doing nothing to stop water theft, deplore farmers
The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture has observed that the government has taken no action on repeated complaints about the theft of Sindh's share of water by a particular province. It observed that the chamber was left with no option but to meet the prime minister and the Sindh chief minister and the irrigation minister to bring this
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Waste disposal plan hits snag
The already delayed project of a door-to-door collection of city's solid waste has suffered yet another setback as the Chinese firm, which had signed an agreement with the city government, has expressed its reservations over investing $230 million in view of the country's fragile political and law and order situation. Sources told Dawn that the overall political situation and the steps taken by the provincial government for the control of the water utility and the KBCA had compelled the Chinese firm to review its decision of investing in the project.
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Fears of gastroenteritis outbreak loom
With the weather turning hot and humid, like other parts of the province reports of gastroenteritis particularly among children have started to pour in at various city hospitals. Cases pertaining to gastro/diarrhoea reported to various government hospitals across the province increased considerably during May. Reports have also been received pertaining to cholera epidemic in a district as well.
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Wheat production to drop slightly: FAO
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has forecast that wheat production in Pakistan this year will decline slightly because of dry conditions in some areas and a reduced use of inputs. However, the production may remain slightly above the average for the past five years, according to FAO's
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Punjab pleads for Indus water for south
With water situation in the country improving, Punjab on Wednesday protested the distribution formula calling it "disastrous for cotton crop' in four crucial districts of southern Punjab, which produce over four million bales of cotton. In a letter to the Indus River System Authority (Irsa), the Punjab government said the distribution formula hurt cotton sowing in Dera Ghazi Khan, Rahim Yar Khan, Rajanpur and Muzaffargarh, which produced over four million bales.
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Human activity has degraded 60pc ecosystem services
International Day for Biological Diversity is being observed on Thursday to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity at a time when over 60 per cent of ecosystem services were being degraded as a result of human activity. One of the most important challenges facing mankind today is to feed a growing population in an increasingly urbanised world confronted with the combined impacts of climate change and the unprecedented loss of biodiversity.