Two corona suspects die in Faisalabad hospital

Ag APP

FAISALABAD: Two corona suspects died in the General Hospital isolation ward at Ghulam Muhammadabad.

They are Nasir Mehmood of Rehmania Colony and Rizwana Karim of Railways Colony. Their corona tests were conducted some days ago and the reports were yet to come. Meanwhile, seven members of a family tested positive. They include Qari Muhammad Ibrahim of Tandlianwala, Janat Bibi, Zakariya Kausar, Tayaba, Hafiz Yahaya and Muhammad Karim. The health authorities have sealed the entire lane where the victim family was residing.

Chambers for tax free budgets: Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) president Sikandar-e-Azam Khan has said that the federal and provincial budgets should be tax free in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.

Addressing a video link conference of all chambers presidents organised by the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), the FCCI president demanded the government extend incentives to the vulnerable SMEs sector. He said that new jobs should be created by encouraging the establishment of new labour intensive industry. “Similarly zero-rated schemes should also be revived for five major exports sectors”, he said and added that the present tariff of sales tax was very high and it must be rationalised with maximum rate of only 5 per cent.

He said that rate of other taxes should also be trimmed proportionately. The FCCI president said that powerlooms were the biggest domestic industry, which had been suffering due to coronavirus lockdown. “Around 100,000 families are directly and indirectly depended on it”, he said and added that powerloom workers belong to lower strata of economy and were facing worst ever crisis of the history. He said that the government should announce relief package for the powerloom sector. He said that petrol prices had plunged to a historic low, however, the government should also give relief in the form of cut in electricity rate. “Hence the electricity rate should also be reduced to around 30 per cent”, he opined. He said that in order to revive the economy during post coronavirus period we must focus on traditional and non-traditional markets.

Committee formed to start online classes in colleges: A four-member committee has been constituted to start online classes in colleges of Faisalabad.

A spokesman for the education department said all colleges will remain closed till July 15 due to coronavirus lockdown.

He said Director Colleges Chaudhry Imdadullah will head the committee with Dr Shaukat Ali Shahid, Dr Zahoor Ahmad Bhatti and Dr Naheed Qadir as members.

In this connection, at least one studio will be established in each college for recording of video lectures whereas two studios will be mandatory in those colleges which have launched BS programs.

Heads of all colleges have also been directed to develop their own websites and upload lectures. A weekly report will be sent to the office of Director Colleges regularly, the spokesman added.