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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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
