Railways officers urged to work more diligently

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Superintendent of the Pakistan Railways, Multan Division, Shoaib Adil, while advising all the officers to work hard and diligently, stressed that all the officers must report all the issues of their respective departments so that their immediate solution is possible while relinquishing and tracing railway lands.

He expressed these views while presiding over the monthly meeting of the Divisional Officers in the Committee Room of the Railway DS Office, while addressing the officers at the monthly meeting held in the Committee Room. The officers of all departments participated in the meeting. 

The DS inquired the officers about the problems being faced by their departments and he issued the necessary directives on the spot while urging the officers to work harder and more diligently. 

"Our first duty is to take care of the passengers and employees while taking precautionary measures during the corona epidemic. However, violation of corona SOPs will not be tolerated under any circumstances, while all legitimate issues of the employees. This is indeed a difficult time. All the officers and employees of the railways can face this problem together,” Shoaib Adil observed.

Young girl breaks into men dominated arena

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

 A young girl has entered into men's dominated business by selling her domestically grown livestock in Karachi's largest makeshift cattle market attracting thousands of buyers as Eid-ul-Azha, due to be celebrated on August 1, comes nearer.

The 21-year-old Ayesha Ghani can be seen attending to the customers and selling the sacrificial animals at the cattle market on Super Highway.  

She has already shattered the myth that only men could do such kind of business. She has also brought along a new trend of online buying as her animals are also up for sale online on social media sites titled Desi Cows. 

The resident of Karachi could be spotted, standing in the market every day, putting at least around three dozen sacrificial animals including 36 cows, oxen and calves on sale, with different prices. 

"I have raised these animals at home by my own. That's why I have a special affection towards them,” Ayesha disclosed. 

"Most buyers are looking for animals available at economical prices, contrary to the facts that the prices have sky-rocketed this year due to inflation. The business has slowed down this year amid coronavirus outbreak,” she remarked.

"I have been an animal lover all my life. However, this is the first time that I am personally selling animals in the market," she added. Ayesha hoped that more women would get encouraged to see her and get involved in this business. 

However, the challenges that she faced being a woman, standing in a male-dominated market were bound to surface at first. 

"After all, girls do face a lot of difficulties in our society but I have taken the first step and hope to see more women and girls stepping forward. Today, women are second to none and they should not consider themselves inferior to anyone. We can progress in every field," she felt. 

In Pakistan, the business of livestock having cows, buffaloes, sheep, goats and camels reaches its boom when the whole country is filled with cattle markets with sellers piling up sacrificial animals for sale before the Eid-ul-Azha. Every year, these markets are abuzz with buyers and sellers, over 95 percent of whom are estimated to be men.

Railways Multan DS convenes emergency meeting

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Superintendent of the Pakistan Railways, Multan Division, Shoaib Adil, convened an emergency meeting with the office-bearers and representatives of the union to look into their grievances and find solutions for the mutual benefit of the organization.

A resolution was passed in the meeting in which the station masters and the assistant station masters were reminded to go by the book and carry out their duties and functions with utmost care and caution. 

This was necessitated by the growing number of train accidents which had not only caused the loss of precious human lives but also brought the trust of the organization at stake. 

The union demanded that the signaling system connected with the train operation should be fixed immediately, the distribution of scales should be stopped and the seniority list should be enforced in letter and spirit.

It was resolved that the management and employees would work together to restore the trust of their department.

Railways officials review flood safety measures in Multan

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

As the security measures continue in the Pakistan Railways Multan Division, in view of impending floods, the departmental chiefs visited various points to get first-hand knowledge of the scenario. 

After reviewing safety measures, necessary instructions were issued, according to the details submitted by the Deputy Chief Engineer Bridge Headquarters, Rizwan Cheema. 

The Divisional Superintendent, Multan, Shoaib Adil, accompanied the Deputy Chief Engineer, also visited Muzaffargarh Bridge No 331, Shujaabad Canal. 

Divisional Engineer, Abid Razzaq, Assistant Engineer Khurram, IOW Kifayatullah and Bridge Inspector Sheikh Adil were also present on the occasion. 

The DS Railways Multan remarked that, in view of the danger of floods, full security measures have been taken by the Division.

Coronavirus Update: Sindh’s fatalities surge past 2,100

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Sindh’s COVID-19 fatalities surpassed 2,100 on July 24 when authorities in the government confirmed 14 more deaths during the last 24 hours, with 917 more infections, taking the tally of patients who lost lives in July to 704 so far for the province. 

An average of 29 COVID patients has died daily during July. The death tally was 1,406 on July 1, 1,501 on July 7, 1,713 on July 10, 1,826 on July 13, and 1,922 on July 16.

The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in a statement on July 24, declared that with the deaths reported during the last 24 hours ending in the morning, the number of COVID fatalities reached to 2,110. 

He, however, added that the number of patients who recovered from the disease so far recovered had reached to 103,491 so far, including 4,089 those declared having defeated the lethal virus on July 24. 

The Chief Minister further shared that there were at present 11,199 active COVID-19 patients in the province, including 10,445 at homes, 59 at isolation centres and 695 at designated hospitals. 

“The condition of 428 patients was stated to be critical, while 67 of them had been put on ventilators,” he added. 

According to the statement, a total 11,812 samples were tested, taking the overall number of tests to 688,317, while the overall tally of infected cases came to 116,800. The provincial rate of infection remained 17%.

Karachi, as usual, registered the maximum (499) new infections on July 24, followed by Hyderabad (50), Ghotki (31), Sukkur (25), Khairpur (24), Thatta (20), Shaheed Benazirabad (19), Umerkot (19), Sanghar (16), Jamshoro (15), Mirpurkhas (15), Badin (14), Jacobabad (13), Sujawal (10), Larkana (10), Kambar Shadadkot (9), Naushero Feroze (9), Shikarpur (6), Dadu (6), Matiari (6), Tando Allahyar (3) and Tharparkar (1).

In the meantime, the Sindh health department website, updated around 8.30 pm, showed the total number of COVID-19 infections in Sindh as 116,686, with 2,139 related deaths.

An official analysis of COVID-19 cases in Sindh, updated on July 24, revealed that 2,127 deaths occurred in the province so far, including 29 out of province patients. Korangi and Central districts of Karachi reported the maximum 2.9% mortality rate, followed by Karachi West (2.8%), Karachi East (2.6%), Sujawal (2.5%) and others.

COVID-19 opens new business avenues

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

As coronavirus (COVID-19) has played havoc with economies of many counties during the past four or five months but at the same time it has opened new avenues for businesses.

It has provided new concepts in business that got an overwhelming response. One of the innovations during this pandemic happens to be the growing widespread popularity of online trade or business through the internet. 

As Eid-ul-Azha is around the corner, one of the most popular chains of superstores, having branches not only in Karachi but in other major cities of Pakistan too, has introduced a package of sacrificial animals (Qurbani). 

The intending customer has to pay around PKR 20,000 for a goat weighing 12 to 14 kilogrammes while another company has offered goat for PKR 26,000. Similarly cow shares are available for PKR 13,500 as well as PKR 16,500.

As the booking has started from July 10, the management of the superstore chain disclosed having received an overwhelming response from the people desiring to fulfill the obligation of Sunnat-e-Ibrahimi. 

The promotional flyers for ‘Qurbani’ offer has been marketed aggressively on the digital media, reaching the masses which has been hooked to smartphones more often than past due to lockdowns and social distancing. The overseas Pakistanis have also shown interest in these offers.

Pakistan Railways conduct seminar on maximizing safety

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Level crossings, particularly unmanned, have become a major source of concern these days owing to the frequent violation of governing rules and regulations by the road users, causing horrific accidents besides ensuing heavy loss of precious lives, exorbitant and sometimes irreparable damages to rolling stock of Pakistan Railways and staining the image of Railways in the eyes of the public for no fault of its own.

In order to have a sound understanding on the subject, Pakistan Railways, Karachi Division, conducted a seminar on maximizing level crossing safety at its Technical Training Centre in the city. 

The Project Director, Karachi Circular Railways, Ameer Mohammad Daudpota, and the Divisional Engineer-III, Kamran Ahmad Ghori, gave a comprehensive presentation, followed by a panel discussion, comprising of three Deputy Divisional Superintendents, who responded to the queries raised by the audience. 

Classification of level crossings, special class, engineering and traffic level crossing as well as paraphernalia available to the officials at the level crossings were briefed, at length, along with the different safety features of every class of level crossing allowed across railway line. 

The seminar called three basic safety parameters: safety through visibility of level crossing, warning boards and training of manpower, as the bedrock of explicit safety features along the track.

The KCR Project Director underlined the policy guidelines for the existing and new level crossings on the mainline and branch line.

"Currently there are 121 manned level crossings in Karachi division and PR is exigently working on transformation of unmanned to manned level crossings in the existing states of fiscal and human resources,” he shared.

While discussing the frequent accidents at unmanned level crossings the PD KCR commented that those were governed as per West Pakistan Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1965 and responsibility lied with the road users if any accident happened.

"The July 3 unmanned level crossing accident resulting in death of Sikh pilgrims transpired not only due to sheer negligence of bus driver but unusual adoption of google map for hastily reaching the destination,” he reckoned.

The seminar laid emphasis on frequent inspections and timely overhauling of level crossings in order to deter untoward scenarios in future.

The Divisional Superintendent, Pakistan Railways, Karachi, Arshad Salam Khattak, in his concluding note, pointed out that everyone should realize the responsibility as the collective effort would drastically improve the current day position.

He directed the divisions' Public Relations department for initiating a media awareness campaign, in all the media, and approaching PEMRA for obtaining time slot in the electronic media for airing public awareness messages.

Lebanon trains dogs to sniff out COVID-19 infections

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

With Lebanon’s coronavirus (COVID-19) numbers in the midst of a troubling upswing, officials announced that they were training police dogs from the country’s various security agencies to detect the smell of the virus in sweat. 

According to a television report, Lebanon has joined a number of countries that have been testing the effectiveness of canines in sniffing out COVID-19, including Germany, Finland, Chile, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

The dogs in Lebanon were being trained at an Internal Security Forces barracks in the town of Aramoun, south of Beirut. 

Lebanon’s Health Minister, Hamad Hassan, conceded that the initiative was desperately needed in the prevailing circumstances. 

Lebanese surgeon, Riad Sarkis, worked on a proof-of-concept study to evaluate the efficacy of using dogs to detect COVID-19 in collaboration with a French team led by Professor Dominique Grandjean of the National Veterinary School of Alfort in France, with testing conducted in both countries. 

Grandjean claimed that two specially trained dogs would have the capacity to search about 4,000 people per day.

India to participate in China's film festival

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services) 

As the clouds of suspicion were hovering that how Chinese moviegoers would respond because of the strained relationship, following stand-off of security forces in Ladakh, India has opted to take part in the Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) starting on July 25. 

Eight Indian movies including the two Bollywood Hindi hits ‘Article 15’ and ‘Section 375’ are due to be screened at the SIFF. At least four of the movies, including two directed by acclaimed directors Gautam Ghosh and Prakash Jha, will be part of the India Film Week during the SIFF. 

The Chinese film critics and historians have welcomed the move even when the political and diplomatic relationships were far from normal.

Interestingly, the Chinese remake of Indian thriller ‘Drishyam’ having been been promoted by Chinese media as ‘Sheep without a Shepherd’ was leading the current box office in the country. 

The movie was reported to have grossed three million Yuan ($430,095) since Chinese mainland theatres reopened on July 20, despite competition from Hollywood hits such as Coco and China’s Wolf Warrior 2.

Coronavirus Update: Sindh CFR climbs to 1.80%

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Sindh’s COVID-19 case fatality rate (CFR) continued increasing on July 23 when the government confirmed yet 36 more deaths in the province during the last 24 hours, with 670 new infections, pushing the overall tally of deaths to 2,096 and infections to 115,883 for the province.

According to the data, Sindh’s CFR was 1.80% on July 23, against 1.61% of July 1. The rate was 1.64% on July 8, 1.73 on July 15 and 1.78 on July 22. As of July 22, against Pakistan’s overall CFR of 2.1%, KPK rate was 3.53%, followed by Punjab (2.30%), Sindh (1.78%) and Balochistan (1.18%) and other territories.

 The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in his daily COVID-19 statement, shared that as many as 9,804 samples were tested during the last 24 hours ending July 23 morning, out of which 670 were detected positive. “In all 686,505 people have been tested for the lethal infection across the province, so far,” he added.

He further declared that 3,176 more patients recovered from the disease on July 23, while 14,385 were still receiving treatment either at hospitals or homes. Of the 685 patients at hospitals, 440 were critical condition; 70 were on-ventilators.

The details about the hospitalization of the deceased patients and their living districts could not be known as the Chief Minister’s office as well as the health department were silent on the subject.

According to the Chief Minister’s statement, Karachi reported the maximum of 305 cases, including 132 from the South district, which had a disease attack rate of 879.8 per 100,000 persons.

In addition to Karachi, Khairpur reported 34 new cases, and they were followed by Ghotki (27), Badin (27), Sanghar (22), Kambar Shahdadkot (20), Shaheed Benazirabad (19), Naushro Feeroze (19), Shikarpur (19), Hyderabad (17), Mirpurkhas (15), Dadu (15), Umerkot (12), Jacobabad (11), Sukkur (8). Tando Allahyar (8), Thatta (8), Tando Mohammad Khan (7), Jamshoro (7), Larkana (6), Kashmore (1) and Sujawal (1).

In the meantime, according to an official report on July 22, different COVID-19 testing laboratories across the province examined 10,108 samples, ie 68% of their collective maximum daily capacity.

As many as 1,435 samples were found positive for the virus, including 1,096 (76%) new cases.

The report further said that in all 845 prisoners were infected with the virus at the Karachi Centre Prison, out of which 795 recovered, while 50 were still receiving treatment.

As of July 22, a total 590 positive cases were admitted at the Karachi Expo Centre, out of which 578 recovered from the disease, one has died while 11 were still admitted, This was the only isolation centre having COVID-19 patients, while another 14 such centres in the province were having no case for treatment.

As many as 52 government and privately run hospitals across the province, as of July 22, had collectively admitted 5,223 patients, out of whom 2,955 got recovered from the coronavirus disease, 701 were receiving treatment, while 1,567 succumbed to the deadly virus.

The highest number of COVID-19 deaths (591), occurred either at hospitals or homes, were reported among the patients in the age group of 60-69 years.

A maximum of 217 patients out of 366 admissions died at JPMC, 213 out of 494 died at CHK, 205 out of 598 at DUHS Hospital, 164 out of 436 at Indus Hospital Karachi, 163 out of 501 at SIUT, 117 out of 569 at AKU Hospital, 91 out of 213 at Karachi Trauma Centre, 81 out of 198 at Ziauddin Hospital Clifton, 62 out of 145 at Lyari General Hospital, 53 out of 198 at Ziauddin Hospital North Nazimabad, among others.

The Aga Khan University Hospital, PNS Shifa and NICH Karachi had no ICU beds empty for any new patient on July 22, while the newly established Infectious Diseases Hospital and Research Centre, Social Security Kidney Centre Landhi, Fauji Hospital, Kulsoom Bai Valika Hospital, Social Security Hospital Landhi were having no patients in their COVID-19 ICU units.

According to a mortality analysis, 12 off-ventilator deaths took place in the country on July 21, including three in Sindh -- two died at home, while one died due to sudden cardiac pulmonary arrest. In the meantime, infections among the healthcare workers also continued in Sindh.

As of July 21, overall, as many as 1,480 doctors, 160 nurses and 285 paramedics and other staffs contracted the disease while performing duties in critical care units or elsewhere. As many as 1,742 of them have recovered while 29 healthcare professionals have perished.