Former KDA chief passes away

 By Abdul Qadir Qureshi 

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Ahmed Hussain, a former Director General of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA), passed away on January 10. He was 85. He has left behind three sons and a daughter to mourn his death. 

He had become the Director General of KDA following the retirement of Muhammad Naeem. Earlier he also held the post of Director General of the then Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) for a few years. 

He was laid to rest at a local graveyard in Karachi. His Namaz-e-Janaza and burial were attended by close friends and relatives. 

Meanwhile, the mother of Agha Maqsood Abbas, a former Director General of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), who also headed the Malir Development Authority (MDA), breathed her last on January 11. 

Her Namaz-e-Janaza was offered at the Imam Bargah in Ancholi, Federal-B-Area, and later laid to rest at Wadi-e-Hussain in the presence of friends and relatives.

NLA, National College join hands for book promotion

 By Abdul Qadir Qureshi 

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Government National College, one of the most revered colleges of Karachi, and the National Library Association (NLA), the vibrant body of working librarians, have decided in principle to join hands in launching a programme aimed at the promotion of book and library culture in the country. 

The College Principal, Prof Syed Uzair Ahmed Madni, who is himself a proactive educationist, besides being a seasoned broadcaster, poet and writer, during his meeting with the NLA Advisor, Syed Khalid Mahmood, on January 11, volunteered to host the event in three parts, whereby the students will be firstly engaged in a group discussion on Asma Hassan’s book Mayar-e-Zindagi before entering the BCQ competition on the same book and then participating in an interactive session with the author. 

“We appreciative the initiatives of the NLA in book and library promotion. We understand that Mayar-e-Zindagi is the perfect book for such an event because its various chapters are related to character building which will be helpful in guiding the students to lead a better life. Most significantly the book has been authored by Asma Hassan, one of the younger writers, which will not cause any generation gap with the college students,” Prof Uzair Madni reckoned. 

“Let National College do this pilot project. Upon its successful completion we would recommend this template to be replicated at other colleges of Karachi and the NLA can think in terms of taking it to different parts of the country,” he suggested. 

It may be recalled that a two-member delegation of NLA, comprising of its President, Syed Muzaffar Ali Shah, and Secretary, Anwar Hussain, had also called on the Principal of the Government National College (Evening) a few weeks ago in which matters relating to holding programmes jointly were initially discussed.