Faisal Vawda claims 'conspiracy being hatched to assassinate' PM Imran Khan
ISLAMABAD
/ LAHORE: Amid prolonged outages in various parts of the country, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday directed the relevant authorities to reduce power glitches immediately and held the previous government responsible for the energy crisis.
“Neither fuel was purchased by the former government nor power units were repaired,” said the premier.
The premier said Imran’s government had shut the power units that the PML-N government had set up for low-cost electricity generation. “Instead, the previous government had utilised those low power generation units which supplied expensive power and due to this injustice, the nation had to pay a heavy price in the shape of Rs100 billion every month.”
Mr Sharif said the PTI government had not purchased Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) when an LNG consignment cost Rs6 billion, but now it has gone up to Rs20 billion. “The nation had to pay more than Rs500 billion this year due to such injustice done by Imran Khan’s government,” he added.
Expressing his resolve to provide relief to the public, he said that neither he would sit idle nor let anyone rest till the resolution of the issue.
The PM said all possible efforts should be made to save citizens from the discomfort created by the criminal negligence of the former government and directed the authorities concerned to make temporary arrangements till the provision of oil and gas.
“Nawaz Sharif’s government had generated the surplus power, but Imran’s government failed to add a new single unit,” he added.
PKLI revival ordered
During his visit to Pakistan Liver Transplant Institute (PKLI) in Lahore, PM Sharif said it was quite disturbing to know that 14 of the 20 kidney transplant units at PKLI had been lying out of order while merely 17 per cent poor patients were offered treatment services as 83pc others had to pay partially or completely from their pocket.
Speaking to media persons, the prime minister said he had asked the chief secretary of Punjab to review steps for PKLI’s revival and discuss it with him within the next 48 hours.
He said the state-of-the-art institute was established with the joint efforts of the previous Punjab government, officials and philanthropists at a total cost of Rs20 billion, but the PTI government destroyed the PML-N’s flagship project just as it had done with other state institutions. “This state-of-the-art facility was established and inaugurated in 2018 for the poor people of Pakistan,” he said, recalling that several liver transplants were conducted at the facility free of cost until the mid of 2018.
Billions of rupees being spent on liver transplant treatment in India and China was saved with the establishment of the facility in Lahore, the prime minister said, adding that it benefited the less privileged patients from across the country. “It is the responsibility of the state to provide quality treatment to poor patients free of cost,” he asserted. However, he bemoaned, “I had even faced inquiries and languished in NAB torture cells twice” though the National Accountability Bureau could not prove charges of even 20 paisas corruption.
He said this facility was planned to curb illegal organ trade and operations being carried out at private places without considering standard protocols.
“The PKLI was to be promoted as John Hopkins of Pakistan,” the PM added.
Beijing Covid spike prompts mass testing, panic buying
Fears of a hard Covid lockdown sparked panic buying in Beijing as long queues formed on Monday in a large central district for mass testing ordered by the Chinese authorities, according to AFP.China was already trying to contain a wave of infections in its largest city Shanghai, which has been almost entirely locked down for weeks and reported 51 new Covid deaths on Monday.
Downtown Beijing's biggest district Chaoyang, home to around 3.5 million people, ordered mass testing from Monday for residents and those coming to work there -- the area hosts the headquarters of many multinational firms and embassies.
Many of the capital's fitness studios and gyms have canceled classes or closed. Beijing has also imposed tight controls on entry to the city, with travelers required to have a negative Covid test within 48 hours.
Pakistan has reported 105 coronavirus cases during the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 1,527,856.
No new fatalities were reported during this period and the death toll remains at
30,369. The positivity rate was recorded as 0.54 percent while 186 patients are critical.
3,000 names to be struck off ECL, says minister
ISLAMABAD: The public authority has acquaiAnted massive changes with the principles controlling residents' exit from the country trying to end the act of saving individuals on the restricted travel backlog for a really long time and in any event, for more than 10 years.
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