Main Page                                                 Archive

Nankana-Amritsar bus service okayed

     Islamabad: Pakistani Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has said that the proposal of starting an Indo-Pak bus service between Nankana Sahib and Amritsar has been approved. The Onlinenews quoted him as appreciating the coordinated efforts of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf in bringing the normalisation in the relationship between the two sides. He believed that cross-border sporting activities and exchange of delegations between the two sides had scaled down the high degree of tension and things looked bright in the future. He also claimed that his government was making all efforts to take good care of all religious places of Sikhs in Nankana Sahib and it would be made a model city. Meanwhile, visiting East Punjab Chief Minister Captain (retired) Amarinder Singh has announced that the first lot of ten buses carrying Sikh pilgrims from Amritsar to Nankana Sahib will ply on April 13, the day that marks the festival of Baisakhi. He, however, said that the road on which the buses would ply, would be completely transport-worthy in a year's time. He said that an amount of Rs.26 crore has been demarcated for the project. Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has given his nod to the proposal during a breakfast meeting with the chief ministers of both sides of Punjab on Wednesday. The Indian government's nod is now awaited.

Pak Hockey officials involved in human smuggling (Go To Top)

     Islamabad: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) officials have been found to be involved in the running of a human smuggling racket by the Pakistan Senate Standing Committee on Sports Youth Affairs and Culture while probing different allegations on PHF. According to the Dawn, the PHF also accepted that nepotism played a role in awarding a Rs20 million contract to a non-IATA (International Airlines Transport Association) registered travel agency as its owner was a person formerly associated with hockey affairs. According to the paper, the human smuggling racket in the federation was exposed when the senators of the committee grilled the PHF officials on different issues. The committee members felt that the country was getting a bad name in the West over allegations of human smuggling and action must be taken to rectify the country's image.

Bidding for Asian Games (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Sunil Dutt said in the Rajya Sabha today, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA)'s proposal to bid for Asian Games 2014 has been received by the government on 18.2.2005 seeking approval for bidding for Asian Games. Dut said, towards conduct of these Games, IOA has indicated a budget estimates of Rs.655.51 crores against which receipt of Rs.675.00 crores has been envisaged. No estimates towards sports infrastructure and civil infrastructure have been indicated. Therefore, the cost to exchequer cannot be indicated.