LSE restores trading of Service
Industries
LAHORE (Staff Reporter): Service Industries Textiles has rectified the default of Listing Regulation No. 30(1)(e)&(g), as the ordinary shares  have been declared eligible for book entry transactions by the CDC. w.e.f. July 18, 2014. The suspension of trading in the shares of the Company, as notified vide our Notice No. 5047 dated July 31, 2012, is now removed through which trading in the shares of the company was suspended from August 01, 2012. The LSE has informed all stakeholders that trading in the shares of the Company will be resumed with effect from Wednesday and all transactions taking place in the shares of the Company will be settled through NCCPL.

Around 81,000 employees working
in Pakistan Railways
ISLAMABAD (APP): Around 81,568 employees are on pay roll of Pakistan Railways against the sanctioned strength of about 95,000. “It was not correct that railway employees were performing trains operation duties in shifts”, said an official in the Ministry of Railways while talking to APP here on Wednesday. He said that their duties are of technical nature and are being performed only by the qualified persons, not by any other person. Giving details, he said, at present, 6390 employees are working in Pakistan Railways Police and were assigned the duties of security and safety of Railway assets i.e. railway installations, key points, railway coaches, railway track and railway Stations etc.
He said that they undergo specific training courses to meet with the security challenges whereas employees of Pakistan Railways are provided different types of training for relating to train operation and are not suitable/eligible for performing security related duties which is prime responsibility of the Railway Police.
The official said that there is no proposal under consideration of the government to import new locomotives from China and no amount has been allocated for this purpose.
Pakistan Railways was not planning to shift Railways Headquarter Office Lahore to Islamabad as there are three major organizational units are working at there, he added.
He said the control rooms of Pakistan Railways are equipped with instruments to monitor the train movement, however the installation of most modern tracking system based on latest technology is under installation at the main places which control the train movement over the system.
The locations are Peshawar Division Railway Control Office, Rawalpindi Division Railway Control Office, Lahore Division Railway Control Office, Central Control Office, Headquarter Office, Lahore, Multan Division Railway Control Office, Sukkur Division Railway Control Office, Karachi Division Railway Control Office and Quetta Division Railway Control Office.
He made it clear that the present government was taking several steps to reduce the losses included reduction in fares resulted into attracting extra passengers towards rail that consequently increased the passenger earning as well as other coaching.
Availability of locomotives in freight pool has been enhanced from 08 locomotives to 25 locomotives on daily basis that generated activity and made it possible to start three to five freight trains, Karachi port daily for up country, he added.
He said that punctuality of passenger trains has been improved from 10pc to 55pc. HSD Oil reserve was limited for two days which has been enhanced to 12 days to streamline the operation of trains.

PARC launches oilseed cultivation campaign to cut oil imports
ISLAMABAD (APP):  PARC has prepared a comprehensive action plan to launch a promotional campaign for oilseeds cultivation in Pothowar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions during Rabi 2014- 15. The plan has been prepared with the consultation of national partners PODB, National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) and Provincial Agriculture Research and Extension Departments. According to the plan, canola hybrid seed will be provided to farmers on 25 pc (Rs. 300/- per kg) of the price of imported seed and they would also be provided seed drills designed especially for canola for planting seed in optimum depth and moisture to achieve optimum plant stand and higher production.
According to the plan, PARC Scientists and field staff of PODB, NRSP and Provincial Agriculture Research and Extension Departments will provide technical guidance to farmers in planting and better crop management.
The plan also envisages facilitating farmers in mechanized harvesting and threshing through inviting private service providers in the area while canola growers will be helped in marketing of canola produce on premium price through policy interventions and solvent industry.
As many as 15,000 - 20,000 acres of land would be cultivated during coming Rabi Season 2014-15 in these regions, according to the plan.
“PARC has been making continuous efforts to promote oilseed cultivation to enhancing domestic production keeping in view the chronic deficiency of edible oil and huge amount of import bills,” said Chairman Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), Dr. Iftikhar Ahmed in his message.
The oilseed cultivation plan was finalized during a high-level meeting at PARC headquarters which was presided over by Dr. Muhammad Azeem Khan, DG National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) .
Among others, Syed Muhammad Nasir Ali, Managing Director, Pakistan Oilseeds Development Board (PODB) and Malik Fateh Khan, Regional Manager, National Rural Support Program (NRSP), Dr. M Ayub Khan, Program Leader (Oliseeds) and other PARC senior scientists participated in the meeting.
Speaking on the occasion, the experts said that traditional rapeseed mustard (Sarsun and Raya) were being cultivated in Pakistan since centuries, therefore, there is a strong need to create awareness among farmers for planting of canola type rapeseed, its advantages and contribution in reducing burden on country’s economy.
Dr. M Azeem Khan DG NARC emphasized the need of collective efforts of all stakeholders in promoting canola cultivation, increasing domestic edible oil production, reducing import bill and saving hard earned foreign exchange.
Syed Nasir Ali, MD PODB, Malik Fateh Khan, Regional Manager NRSP and Representatives of Provincial Agriculture Research and Extension Departments assured their support for an important national cause.

Research on virus resistant
cotton varieties
MULTAN (APP): - A US agriculture scientist Dr Don L Keim visited Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) Multan on Wednesday to witness the field research meant to develop virus resistant cotton varieties. The US AgriBusiness Inc. scientist also witnessed the relay cropping in experimental fields, stated an official release. It may be noted that International Centre for Agriculture Research in Dry Areas (Icarda) had provided 1000 kinds of cotton lines i.e. seed having resistance against Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) to help Pakistan develop virus resistant varieties. Icarda had also funded and imparted training to Pakistani scientists on modern agriculture research.
CCRI Multan director Syed Sajid Masud Shah informed Dr Keim about the newly developed varieties which have resistance against virus and other diseases including BTCIM-622, BTCIM-177, BTCIM- 179, and BTCIM-616. CEO Pakistan Agriculture Coalition Arif Nadeem also accompanied the US scientist.
Meanwhile, CCRI spokesman Masud Shafi said that Pakistani scientists selected some out of the 1000 cotton lines provided by Icarda which have shown resistance against virus in Pakistan. He hoped that new virus resistant varieties would be developed.

Low cost GSM transceiver being developed to enhance signal
ISLAMABAD (APP): Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications (MoIT) is implementing a project for development of a low cost transceiver to enhance GSM signal and ensure strong mobile network coverage. National ICT Research and Development Fund had launched this project at a cost of Rs. 1.67 million in collaboration with School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at NUST, Islamabad. The project is expected to be completed by May next year, sources at MoIT said here on Wednesday. The sources said cell phone is a necessary gadget for communication and staying in touch with the world in both time of happiness and distress.
They said mobile phone users want, and indeed expect, to be able to communicate inside every building including office blocks, shopping centers, tunnels, basements and underground car parks.
However in some of the areas, Radio Frequency (RF) holes are formed due to signal diffraction which is caused by obstructions, they said and added these RF holes result in signal attenuation and as a consequence the signal quality received by mobile users degrades significantly.
Therefore, in order to maintain an effective communication, the signal strength needs to be improved by enhancing the weak RF signal in these zones.
At the service provider level, high-quality RF signals can be provided by building a new Base Station (BS).However,the sources said this implementation can be expensive and uneconomical as the RF holes are extremely local in nature.
Giving example, they said, some parts of a building might be rich in signal strength while others having no connectivity as in such situations, user level initiative is required and a device is needed that can enhance the signal strength.
The sources said a two way GSM transceiver is a device that can amplify the uplink and downlink GSM signals.
GSM transceiver can be easily installed inside houses and buildings. The main emphasis lies on reducing the cost as the currently available gadgets are highly expensive for single users or even for small enterprises.
The project is also focused at user end and is operator independent.