TEXT BULLETIN 1300 HRS

Minister of state for information says challenging steps taken by the government have considerably reduced terrorism related incidents.

 

The construction work of second largest point block-I of Thar Coal project under the CPEC has started.

 

Hindu community is celebrating the Holi festival with traditional enthusiasm on Sunday.

 

In Philippines, collapsed peace talks have been resumed between the government and rebels.

 

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MARRIYUM:

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb says there is a considerable decrease in terrorism incidents as a result of measures taken by the Government.

 

Addressing a convocation of Iqra University in Islamabad on Sunday, the Minister of State said war against terrorism is being fought as a challenge.

 

She said the nation is very resilient to eradicate this menace.

 

Mariyum Aurangzeb said China Pakistan Economic Corridor is creating numerous job opportunities in different fields.

 

PSDP:

The Federal Government has released over 482 billion rupees till 10th of this month under Public Sector Development Programme.

 

According to the Ministry of Planning and Development, 150 billion rupees have been released for different roads projects while over 118 billion rupees to WAPDA during the period.

 

Likewise, over twenty-four billion rupees have been provided for Railways projects and over seventeen billion rupees to Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission for its projects.

 

During this period, about fifty-two billion rupees have been released for Temporarily Displaced Persons.

 

Over thirty billion rupees were given for Special Areas including AJK, Gilgit Baltistan, SAFRON and FATA for development purposes.

 

Similarly, twenty billion rupees have been released for Prime Minister’s Global Sustainable Development Goals achievement programme and about eight billion rupees for Prime Minister’s Youth and Hunermand Programme.

 

LOAN SCHEME:

Over seventeen thousand loan applications were approved under Prime Minister Youth Business Loan Scheme till March last year.

 

This has been stated in a progress report of the scheme, presented to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

 

Initiated in 2013, the scheme helped to assist educated young people to establish or expand their business enterprises.

 

Moreover, the report shows that 17.7 billion rupees were disbursed under the loan scheme and the loan recovery was an impressive ninety four percent.

 

THAR:

The drilling and construction work has started in second largest point block-I of Thar Coal area under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

 

Official sources told Radio Pakistan Karachi correspondent Muhammad Waqas that Four billion ton coal exist in 150 Kilometer long Block.

 

The cost of the block-I project is two hundred billion rupees.

 

He said during the digging two power plants with capacity of 132 megawatt have also been developed.

 

The construction work in Block-II is also underway with full swing at the cost of two hundred twenty billion rupees.

 

PROJECTS:

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the feasibility reports for construction of seven hydel power projects under China Pakistan Economic Corridor have been completed.

 

Official sources told Radio Pakistan Peshawar correspondent that these projects having capacity to generate twelve hundred megawatt electricity will be completed at a cost of about four billion dollars.

 

PAK-SRILANKA:

Pakistan Naval Ships NASR and SAIF are visiting Colombo Port as part of the strong professional relationship between the Navies of both the countries.

 

A number of professional training activities are also planned during the visit.

 

The ships have taken part in a large number of the multinational exercises.

 

The PNS NASR also extensively participated in tsunami relief operations in 2004.

 

HOLI:

Hindu community is celebrating the Holi festival with traditional enthusiasm on Sunday.

 

The main event of the Holi festival is being celebrated at Suami-Narayn Mandir in Karachi.

 

PHILIPPINE:

In Philippine, the government and the communist-led National Democratic Front insurgents have agreed to observe cease fire and resume the collapsed peace talks.

This was announced in a statement on Sunday, issued after negotiations between the two sides at Utrecht in Netherlands.

 

Both sides agreed to continue formal peace talks and reaffirmed to honor all bilateral agreements and statements made before the collapsed peace talks last month.