Long wait coming to an end: CDGK to start CNG bus service by end of April

The City District Government Karachi’s (CDGK) preparations for the launch of a CNG bus service in the city are nearing completion and City Nazim Mustafa Kamal has issued stern directives to the project in charge to ensure commencement of the service by the end of April.

The project was initially announced by the federal government in the 2006-07 financial year, at a cost of Rs 2.5 billion, with the deadline for their introduction being set at February 2008. Under the federal government’s plan, the project would be a public-private partnership enterprise and would lead to the introduction of 8,000 CNG buses throughout the country and 800 buses for Karachi. However, finally it seems that the CDGK has managed to overcome the financial crunch and 50 CNG buses will ply on the roads of the city by end of April. The locally manufactured buses, which comply with international standards, will be introduced at a cost of Rs 250 million.

..............................

India is 'fast becoming like Pakistan'

Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram's meeting with CIA chief Leon Panetta showed that India was "fast becoming like Pakistan" and signalled a "new status" of the American intelligence agency in the country, the CPI(M) alleged today.

Yesterday's meeting "marks a new stage in Indo-US collaboration. This is the first time that an American CIA chief has been accorded a meeting with the Union Home Minister in India. Apart from meeting his intelligence counterparts in India, the CIA Chief has been received at the political level, signalling the new status of the CIA in India," the party Politburo claimed in a statement here.Noting that the CIA was "notorious for its interventions in the political affairs of various countries including destabilising governments considered inimical to US interests", the party said it was "a pointer of how things have changed under the Manmohan Singh government".
"India is fast becoming like Pakistan where the CIA and FBI chiefs meet with the interior minister and Prime Minister," the CPI(M) said.

The role being played by American security and military agencies in India and "the manner in which the Congress-led government is promoting such ties should be a matter of serious concern for all those who wish to protect national sovereignty and the integrity of our democratic system", the major Left party said.