Supreme Court ordered to stop all illegal constructions on Margalla Hills immediately, while hearing a case on the protection of Margalla Hills. A restaurant, Monal has cut down 200 trees for illegal expansion, the CDA chairperson told the court. The bench said that the restaurant should be stopped from doing so and it should plant the trees it has cut.
The Private Schools Association of Karachi has demanded that it should be allowed to reopen schools after Eid. Tariq Shah, the associations’s president appealed that schools should also be granted permission to reopen amid SOPs as everything else in the country is resuming. He further added that according to an international study, students between the age of one to 17 have strong immunity so there is no point in keeping the schools closed.
Pakistan’s shopping malls and markets to stay open on weekends until the Eid, clarified Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed on Tuesday. He added that they are looking out for the entire country and they cant close their eyes and ears to what is happening in the country. On Monday, the court ordered all provinces to open shopping malls so that people can prepare for Eidul Fitr.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has launched the cash disbursal programme under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash for workers who are worst affected by the coronavirus crisis and have become jobless. The prime minister has committed that for each rupee provided by donors, Rs4 will be committed by the government.
Pakistan will be manufacturing the anti viral drug Remdsivir within two months according to Special Assistant on National Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza. The drug will also be available for COVID-19 patients in Pakistan. Dr Mirza said that five companies in the world had been granted the license to manufacture the drug, Pakistani company being one of them.
The Islamabad administration has issued orders to open all malls, shopping centres and markets across the clock. Barbershops and all commercial centres will stay open for Eidul Fitr, said Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat. The orders will be implemented from Monday onward. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court instructed all provinces to open shopping malls along with all markets.
PIA resumed domestic flight operations in the country, operating two flights from Karachi to Lahore and Islamabad and one from Lahore to Karachi. As part of a series of precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, each alternate seat is being left empty. But the burden of these empty seats is being passed on to passengers.
The Sindh health ministry has decided to pay one month’s basic salary as a bonus to medical professionals in the province. Pakistan Paediatric Association (PPA) said that it suggested that government pay an extra allowance of Rs1,000 to doctors and Rs500 per day to nurses who are treating the patients of coronavirus. The decisions were taken in a meeting between Sindh Health Minister Dr Azara Pechuhu and a delegation of the PPA.
The Punjab Food Authority has seized thousands of tonnes of illegally stocked wheat across the province during a series of raids. The authority seized 10,000 wheat bags from Dera Ghazi Khan, 3,000 from Bahawalnagar and 2,000 bags from Layyah. A total of 20,000 bags were also impounded from a warehouse in Multan. All the warehouses where bags were found have been shut down and their owners have been arrested.
The government signed a Rs442 billion contract with a joint venture of China Power and Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) for the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha dam. Chinese state-run firm holds 70 per cent and the FWO, a commercial arm of the Armed Forces of Pakistan, 30pc share in the consortium. Signed contract covers construction of a diversion system, main dam, access bridge and the 21MW Tangir hydropower project.