Youth Exchange: Programme Girl from G-B to represent Pakistan
GILGIT: A youth volunteer of Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRSC) in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) will represent the country in the International Youth Exchange Programme to be held in Japan this month.
Shahida Gul, a ninth grader at Sir Syed Public School Gilgit, belongs to Yasin Hundur valley of Ghizer District. The PRCS management gave her a farewell at the Gilgit office on Thursday.
Organised by Japan Red Cross Society in collaboration with Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Science and Technology, the exchange programme will be held from November 14 to November 28 in Tokyo.
“Around 70 youth form over 23 countries will participate in the Youth Exchange Programme and we are proud to see a girl selected for it,” Safdar Khan, an official of PRCS Gilgit office said.
PRCS G-B Chairman Asif Hussain, Vice Chairman Imdad Ali and Provincial Head Ghulam Abbas were also present on the occasion.
Gul will fly from Islamabad to Tokyo on November 12. Besides her, another student, Asadur Rehman, an eighth grader from Karachi, will also be representing Pakistan in the exchange programme.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/462904/youth-exchange-programme-girl-from-g-b-to-represent-pakistan/
Diamer-Bhasha dam: Efforts underway to mitigate impact on environment says Wapda
GILGIT: Even though the construction of Diamer-Bhasha dam will have adverse impacts on the environment, but efforts are underway to mitigate them as much as possible.
This was discussed at a high-level meeting of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) Lahore with the dam’s stakeholders on Thursday. The Wapda authorities assured the stakeholders that steps were being taken to preserve the local culture by setting up model villages around the reservoir periphery.
The meeting was held as part of public consultation on the environment impact assessment of the dam being constructed in Diamer District and parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). More than 30,000 people from 32 villages of Diamer valley will be dislocated as the work progresses, said Dr Izharul Haq, a senior advisor in Wapda. He said the dam brewed controversy between the governments of G-B and K-P after the K-P Assembly adopted a resolution claiming over 8 km land near the dam.
Dr Rahil Ahmed, another official of Wapda said it was highly likely that hundreds of rock carvings would be submerged in the reservoir, but said the German government has pledged to support them in preserving them in a museum in Chilas.
Mohammad Zafar, an official of the World Wildlife Fund, said the area around the dam was home to some rare wildlife species will lose their habitat due to the construction. He asked the authorities to take the aspect into account.
Meanwhile, the participants complained that they were not consulted before preparing plans for those affected by the dam.
The meeting was attended by public representatives, officials of wildlife and forests departments and district administration and NGOs. With a storage capacity of about 8 million acre-feet and projected electricity generation of 4,500 megawatts, Diamer-Bhasha will top both Tarbela and Mangla dams as the storage capacities of both have fallen drastically due to silting over the years.
According to experts, the dam is expected to be completed in eight years and will cost over $12 billion.
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