Anti-dengue campaign reviewed

LAHORE: Commissioner Lahore Division Dr Mujtaba Piracha has directed to lodge FIRs against president and general secretary of concerned cooperative housing society association for not cooperating with administration in anti-dengue campaign.

He said this while chairing a meeting regarding dengue control. All CEOs of district health authorities, dengue incharges and other officers concerned attended meeting. The commissioner said all CEOs of teaching hospitals would be invited in the next meeting to make a better report of dengue patients.

He directed the officials concerned to constitute special teams to check the reporting mechanism of private hospitals and present the report within one week. He said third party evaluation would be done of the areas and towns where dengue larvae number was decreasing. He also directed to write letter to railways authorities upon not cooperating for anti-dengue campaign in railways facilities in Lahore.

PU seminar: Punjab University’s Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (ORIC) Friday organised a seminar on HEC research proposals under technology development funds.

Punjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmed, ORIC Director Prof Dr Mahmood Saleem, Resource Person Assistant Prof Dr Shabnam Javed, Institute of Research Promotion Chief Coordinator Rehmat-ullah, faculty members and focal persons of steering committee of ORIC attended the seminar.

Prof Niaz encouraged the faculty members to submit research proposals to HEC under Technology Development Fund (TDF). Dr Mahmood Saleem said that ORIC was available to facilitate the faculty members at every step of preparation of TDF proposals.

Rehmat Ullah shared the information about the preparation of business plan and gave tips for successful proposal preparation. A question & answer session was also held in the end.

Meanwhile, Punjab University’s Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS) organised a seminar in its auditorium. Nazria Pakistan Trust Vice-Chairman Prof Dr Rafiq Ahmed was the keynote speaker.

Prof Dr Rafiq elaborated the geo-strategic location of Pakistan and its significance. He said that Pakistan has huge potential and required talent to cope with the contemporary challenges.

Centre for South Asian Studies Director Prof Dr Umbreen Javaid, faculty members, MPhil & PhD scholars and students were present on the occasion. dairy development: University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore in collaboration with Punjab Livestock & Dairy Development Department on Friday organised a consultative meeting on ‘Development of Dairy Sector of Pakistan”.

Punjab Livestock & Dairy Development Department Secretary Capt (R) Muhammad Mahmood presided over the meeting and sought suggestions and technical inputs from stakeholder for formulation of policies for profitability of dairy sector, catering the needs of country and providing surplus livestock products for exports.

Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha, UVAS Vice-Chancellor, and stakeholders from public and private dairy sectors across the province, academicians, researchers and officials from livestock department attended the meeting.

The secretary said the meeting was aimed to provide a platform to all the stakeholders for networking where they could find opportunities keeping in view the current value chain and other important issues. He asked them to come up with innovative ideas and share their issues & impediments for the growth of dairy sector. He said such meetings were effective for making farmers-friendly policies. He said after one month all concerning issues would be discussed in the next meeting.

Dr Talat Naseer gave a detailed presentation on key issues hampering growth in dairy sector, milk production model in Punjab, potential impact of price de-capping, import of milk and whey powder and changing trend in dairy industry with the use of tea whitener. He said UVAS was working closely with the industry and livestock farming community to solve their issues. He recommended starting school milk programme and rural entrepreneurship. He said minimum pasteurisation law must be implemented in Punjab.