Imran Khan's cabinet bans first-class air travel for top officials
Islamabad, Aug 25: The cabinet of newly-appointed Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has imposed a ban on first-class air travel by the President, Chief Justice, Senate Chairman and the National Assembly speaker.
The move comes after the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government on Friday revised working hours in government institutions, abolished discretionary funds of the Prime Minister, federal ministers and members of the National Assembly, reports Dawn news.
The decisions were taken during a second meeting of the federal cabinet in a week presided over by Khan.
The Cabinet rejected a proposal for declaring only one official weekly holiday on Sunday and withdrawing the second weekly holiday on Saturday.
While the span of working hours will remain same - eight hours - the new office timing will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The previous timing was 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The meeting also decided to conduct audit of all mega transport projects carried out in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces during the last government.
It was decided that the Prime Minister would use the official aircraft only for domestic tours and not for foreign visits.
Another important decision taken by the cabinet was formation of task forces for upgrading shanty settlements across the country and launching tree plantation in main cities.
The meeting decided to abolish the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) and merge its departments into other ministries.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had spent 51 billion Pakistani rupees ($417,825,150) government funds only in one year by exercising his "discretionary powers", Dawn news reported.
Similarly, President Mamnoon Hussain also distributed public money of 90 million Pakistani rupees on his own discretion.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
