LAHORE
For the first time in Lahore, Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) has planned to start shopping tours on every Saturday.
The WCLA officials said the first shopping tour would be held today (Saturday), in which tourists will be taken to different bazaars of the walled city. The target audience of these tours is all shopping lovers, officials said, adding special female tourist guides had been trained by WCLA for conducting these tours.
The tour will start from Delhi Gate at 11am, the WCLA officials said and maintained that the shopping lovers would be taken to Akbari Mandi, Delhi Gate Bazaar, Pakistan Cloth Market, Kashmiri Bazaar, Azam Cloth Market, Waan Market, Kasera Bazaar and Rang Mehal. All these main markets are located on the Royal Trail which is a recently restored area of the Walled City Lahore.
Tania Qureshi, Deputy Director Media WCLA said the authority would be taking the tourists to the places where they can buy wedding dresses, party wear and casual unstitched suits, jewellery, shawls, shoes, home décor accessories, crockery, cutlery, spices, dry fruits and much more at cheap rates.
“Actually the Walled City Lahore is a hub of wholesale markets and the shopping lovers must visit it in this winter and wedding season. This tour is economical on everyone’s pocket. In this weekly tour we will be taking the tourists to different bazaars every time. Most of these markets are Asia’s biggest wholesale markets and we aim to promote these hundreds of years old markets through a guided tour. Our tourist guides will also brief the tourists about the history of the markets,” she said.
Director General WCLA, Kamran Lashari said that this unique tour is designed for the first time in Pakistan. “The markets of the walled city Lahore are heritage places and I think the people should know about these as well. This is a new trend of tourism and I hope we encourage the shopping lovers to visit the walled city Lahore,” he concluded.
LG: Elected representatives of religious minorities in the local government system from several districts of Punjab demanded direct elections for minority representatives in all tiers of government.
This was their main recommendation at the concluding session of a two-day workshop on ‘Minorities’ Participation in Local Government’ organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan at its office.
Recently elected minority councillors from Bahawalpur, Rahimyar Khan, Lahore and Sargodha participated in the workshop. They recommended that all powers presently with the district coordination officer be immediately transferred to the district chairman for the effective functioning of the local government.
They also said that for smooth working of the local government and better cooperation among the different tiers of government, political parties should make it mandatory for their MPAs and MNAs to hold regular consultations with the local government representatives from religious minorities at the district level party secretariats and document all the recommendations presented there.
Quoting difficulties that the minorities face due to lack of graveyards and worship places, they demanded that the local government should have the authority to allocate worship and burial spaces to the minorities at the district level. In addition to that, they demanded, that minority worship places in illegal possession be retrieved without delay.
Talking about the problems minorities face in getting welfare funds, they said that the district welfare institutions such as the Bait ul Maal committee should disburse funds in consultation with the minority representatives in the local government so that these communities also have access to welfare funds.
PHC: A delegation of the World Health Organisation, led by Director Healthcare Delivery Regional Office, Egypt Dr Muhammad Assai Ardakani, visited the Punjab Healthcare Commission, which was given a detailed briefing on the working of the PHC and its mandate.
According to a press release issued here on Friday, the delegation was welcomed by PHC Chief Operating Officer Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan and senior officials of the Commission. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and explore potential areas for collaboration between the PHC and the WHO.
Dr Ajmal gave an overview of the PHC’s regulatory mandate and informed the visitors that the PHC was a provincial statutory body mandated to regulate healthcare services delivery in both public and private healthcare establishments. The delegation was briefed about objectives, functions and scope of the PHC and the facilitative approach it had adopted for the implementation of Minimum Service Delivery Standards (MSDS) for all healthcare facilities. The delegation was also informed about the anti-quackery campaign being run in the province for the eradication of the menace.
Dr Muhammad Assai Ardakani appreciated the PHC for its efforts, and assured to work in collaboration with the PHC, especially in the assessment of the primary healthcare service delivery while using the PHC database. The delegation expressed confidence for close working coordination with the PHC to bring necessary improvements in the health sector of the Punjab.
[Source:-The International News]
