EOBI pensioners remain deprived

ISLAMABAD: While the Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced a 10 percent raise for the federal government pensioners for 2014-15, there was no mention of an increase in pension for the EOBI pensioners who get a paltry Rs3,600 per month.

These pensioners were also deprived of an increase in the current FY 2013-14 while the government pensioners were given a 15 percent raiseand their minimum pension was raised to Rs5,000 per month, which has now been further raised to Rs6,000.

Interestingly, the Federal Minister for Human Resource Development Pir Sadruddin Rashdi had announced a couple of months back that the rate of per month pension for the EOBI beneficiaries would be enhanced to Rs6,000 per month from July 1 with the increase in pension of other government employees.

When contacted for comments, the incumbent Chairman EOBI Ayub Sheikh told The News on Tuesday that an increase in pension of the institution’s beneficiaries cannot be granted on the basis of actual evaluation, hence it was not recommended. He said that according to the latest evaluation, the funds available with the institution would start depleting from the year 2021 and would be finished by the year 2050, hence no increase could be awarded to the pensioners.

Kashmir will not remain part of a ‘communal’ India: Farooq Abdullah

SRINAGAR: National Conference (NC) patron and Srinagar Lok Sabha candidate Farooq Abdullah said on Sunday that Jammu & Kashmir ‘would not remain a part of India’ if the country becomes communal, while asking those who vote for Narendra Modi to “drown themselves”.

Lashing out at Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, Abdullah told a party election rally in old city’s Khanyar area that: “Those who say that people opposing Modi should go to Pakistan must remember that if India becomes a communal country, Kashmir would not remain its part.

“Those who vote for Modi should drown themselves in a river”.Criticizing his opponents of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abdullah alleged that PDP’s open support to BJP was a historic betrayal of the people of Jammu & Kashmir and its patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed should know that there is a limit to a nation’s tolerance to gimmickry, political intrigues and lies.

“Every single vote that you will cast for National Conference will be a vote against the Modi-Mufti alliance and will be a vote that will stop the march of communal forces from entering Jammu & Kashmir.

“National Conference has defended Article 370 (of the constitution) and Kashmiriyat from hundreds of intrigues and thousands of enemies and National Conference will continue to be a protection shield for Jammu & Kashmir and its people long after I am gone,” he said.

“Mufti Sayeed nurtures a grudge against Kashmiris that they have handed him embarrassing electoral defeats from his native constituency four times, a loud and clear rejection that forced his rehabilitation in Muzaffarnagar (in Uttar Pradesh) as a member of parliament from a safe seat at a time when he couldn’t garner more than 300 votes in his own state,” Abdullah said.

CNG stations to remain shut for 24 hours

KARACHI: All the CNG station will remain closed for 24 hours as part of Gas Load Management Plan, Geo News reported Wednesday.

The CNG stations will be shut 8: 00 am on Wednesday (today) and re-opened on Thursday morning after 24-hour closure.

CNG stations in Sindh to remain shut for 24 hours

KARACHI: All CNG stations in Sindh including Karachi would remain shut for 24 hours from Wednesday 8 AM to Thursday 8AM.

According to Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), the closure takes place under gas load management plan.

 

Chris Brown ordered to remain in jail for a month

Chris Brown was being treated there for anger management, substance abuse, and issues related to bipolar disorder.

Rapper Chris Brown has been ordered to remain in jail for another month after violating his probation. The 24-year-old singer was arrested on March 14 following his dismissal from a court-ordered rehabilitation facility.
Brown was being treated there for anger management, substance abuse, and issues related to bipolar disorder. He was brought to the court in a bright orange jumpsuit as his attorney Mark Geragos failed to convince the judge that he should be allowed to wear normal clothes and enter another rehab programme instead of jail, reported CNN.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Brandlin said he was concerned about “provocative” statement counselors said Brown wrote on a card at the Malibu rehab center.
The rehab centre said they threw the rapper out after he refused to take a drug test, made a statement about being good with guns and knives and touched the elbow of a female client.
Brandlin will next hear the case on April 23. The rapper has been under court supervision since pleading guilty to his 2009 assault of ex-girlfriend Rihanna.