Info we should know

ISLAMABAD, Jun 30:The process of payments of Rs. 2000 for the new eligible beneficiaries applied for the “Sasta Petrol/Sasta Diesel” scheme of the government through sending SMS to the 786 will start from July 4. According to the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) Pakistan, the eligible beneficiaries of the scheme who registered through 786 will start getting their payment of Rs. 2000. However, the existing beneficiaries of Benazir Kafalat program are already receiving their payments of Rs. 2000 from the designated banks. Till Wednesday, out of eight million registered families of Benazir Kafalat program, Rs. 6.67 billion has been disbursed among 3,339,000 families. After receiving payment message from BISP, the registered families of Benazir Kafalat Program belonged from Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan may receive their payments from biometric ATMs of Habib Bank and those from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir from Bank Alfalah. All those who are not reg...

ISLAMABAD, Jun 29: The tourist influx at scenic spots of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was on rise as around 33,027 people from across the country visited various destinations in one day to enjoy the pleasant weather.  Different places of KP province are known for low temperature in Summer season and are the main reason of attraction for tourists from plain cities where mercury even touched 45 C mark. The statistics issued daily by KP Integrated Tourism Development Project (KITE) on Wednesday revealed that Galiyat attracted 16,311 tourists, Kaghan/Naran 13,321, Malam Jabba 2,140, Chitral Lower 638 and areas of Upper Dir fascinated 452 tourists.  A senior official at KITE said the hotel industry was doing a good business due to rise in Summer tourism.  Moreover, a large number of tourists are also expected during Eid ul Azha holidays. The administration is in process of  finalizing all arrangements to facilitate tourists particularly during holidays.  When asked, the o...

ISLAMABAD, Jun 27: The PTCL Group, comprising of PTCL and Ufone network, has donated life jackets to the fishermen community of Karachi to ensure safety of small-scale level fishermen during high tide season at a ceremony held in FCS HQ in Karachi. Chairman of Fishermen Cooperative Society Zahid Ibrahim Bhatti was presented with life jackets by PTCL Group representatives to acknowledge the efforts of the local fishermen, said a news release issued here on Monday. Expressing his thoughts regarding the initiative, Head of Public Relations and Corporate Communication, of PTCL Group Amir Pasha said that “PTCL Group was always looking for opportunities to give back to the community where it is most needed." He said that monsoon season is around the corner and there was pressing need to undertake measures to ensure safety of fishermen community, who risk their lives to sustain the seafood supply chain.  He said safety is of a paramount importance and these fishermen need to be equipped ...

ISLAMABAD, Jun 27: A five-day anti-polio campaign started across the country from Monday to administer anti-polio vaccine to the children up to five years of age. According to details, in Punjab, 39,000 health workers were taking part in the the week-long campaign to administer anti-polio vaccine to over five million children in seven districts, including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, DG Khan, Bahawalpur, Layyah and Mianwali. In Sindh, the special anti-polio drive started in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions and other high-risk districts of Sindh from Monday while in Larkana, Sukkur and Shaheed Benazirabad divisions, the drive will start from Wednesday. Over 30,000 polio workers will administer anti-polio drops to over 3.3 million children in the high risk union councils. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, about 2.6 million children would be administered anti-polio drops during a five day campaign. Over 11,000 teams will take part in the campaign. Similarly in Balochistan, 4,900 teams will admin...

LAHORE, Jun 24:The Pakistan Railways will introduce a "Safar Saheli" mobile application to facilitate women passengers during traveling by a train.  According to the PR sources on Friday, a special room in the PR Police IG office has been set up to operate the application.  PR CEO Farrukh Temor Ghilzai has constituted a committee to monitor the work on the app.  The committee members, including Divisional Commercial Officer Zeeshan Shehzad, DEE M Akbar Shah and DSTE Ali Nawab Khan, visited the room and check preparations for the application.  The committee vowed that the app would soon be activated and after its launch, safety of women passengers would be ensured.

ISLAMABAD, Jun 21: Government has started the process of making payments of Rs.2000 to the existing eight million beneficiaries of the Benazir Kafalat program in view of rising prices of petroleum products in the country. The payments have started under the Sasta Petrol/Sasta Diesel Scheme of the government which is being executed under the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP). According to the BISP, after receiving payment message from BISP, the registered families of Benazir Kafalat Program belonged from Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan may receive their payments from biometric ATMs of Habib Bank and those from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir from Bank Alfalah. All those who are not registered in Benazir Kafalat and have applied in the scheme by sending an SMS to 786 are requested to wait for the message of eligibility and payment.   They will receive a payment message shortly after the message of fulfilling the required eligibility criteria. It...

ISLAMABAD, Jun 20: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Monday issued advisory for all departments concerned to remain alert as series of heavy rains may start in the country from today. According to the latest advisory released by Pakistan Meteorological Department, the series of torrential rains with winds and thundershowers, beginning in upper and central parts of the country from Monday, will continue till Wednesday. The relevant authorities including all provincial departments, National Highway Authority, Frontier Works Organisation and other institutions asked to remain alert and take precautionary measures to avoid any untoward incidents. The new rain spell might trigger landslides in vulnerable areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Galyat, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. The heavy falls my generate flash flooding in local nullahs in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The NDMA has also advised public living in low-lying areas to remain alert and immediately report any kind of emerge...

ISLAMABAD, Jun 20: On the direction of Inspector General of National Highway and Motorway Police (NH&MP) Khalid Mahmood, the department will launch a demerit point system.  The system will rely on a national driving license repository (NLDR) of over 8 million driving licenses, said a press release.  Demerit points for various violations are defined in the National Highways Safety Ordinance 2000 (Section 86). Driving licenses shall be suspended, as per the law, when demerit points exceed twenty within two years.  NH&MP officers can now retrieve prior violations and challans through the violator's CNIC, telephone number, and license number.  This initiative is a part of the '#NoMore' campaign, whereby a zero-tolerance enforcement regime has been introduced with the help of technological innovations like well-equipped spotters, next-generation speed cameras, drones, body-worn cameras and intelligent management systems for public service vehicles (PSVs).  Th...