Motorway accident, 31 students killed

31 students among 37 killed in deadly Motorway accident
Rawalpindi: Thirty-seven passengers, including 31 students, were killed on Monday night while over 67 were critically wounded when a school bus carrying 105 students of the Millat Grammar School Faisalabad turned turtle on the Motorway.

The accident occurred at a sharp turn on the Motorway's Emergency Booth-223 at Beat-7 on M-2 (North) near the Salt Range after the brakes of the bus failed, police sources said. Hospital police fear the death toll will rise.

The students were on a field trip and were on their way back to Faisalabad when the bus met the accident. Army Commandos have been called in aid of the National Highway and Motorway Police (NH&MP) rescuers to rescue students trapped in the wreckage of the school bus. 100 students, five teachers and other staff members were on board when the accident occurred, police sources said.

The bodies of the students and staff members have been shifted to General Hospital Chakwal while the injured were taken to an army hospital in Kallar Kahar. Inspector General NH&MP, Zafarullah Khan and Regional Police Officer (RPO) Rawalpindi Range, Captain (retd) Zubair confirmed the death toll.

Police sources, quoting statements of the injured people said that the students of Millat Grammar School were signing songs and enjoying themselves when the deadly accident occurred.

A state of emergency was declared upon receiving the information of the accident while rescuers of the Motorway Police rushed to the scene with ambulances. The area police reached there soon after.

Motorway Police sources said that many students and staff members were trapped in the wreckage of the bus, crying for help. The Motorway Police authorities sought help from the army whose commandos reached to the scene and participated in the rescue operation.

Zafarullah Khan, present at site of the accident, confirmed the death toll to this correspondent saying a sate of emergency had been declared to tackle the situation. He said he called the army commandos (SSG) to assist motorway rescuers. "Rescue work was completed with the help of army commandos and area police after about two hours of the occurrence of the accident at about 11.30 pm," police sources said.

The heirs of students killed or injured in the deadly accident started reaching the Chakwal and Kallar Kahar hospital late Monday night to enquire after their loved ones. The hospital administrations are handing over the dead bodies to their heirs after conducting external post mortem.

The death of the innocent students has left many question unanswered. When contacted Traffic Management Experts they said the accident occurred due to various reasons including a road engineering fault and the plying of defective vehicles on the motorway. They said many horrific accidents had taken place in the last many years at the same sharp turn but the government had not taken any action to remove the flaw.

It is worth mentioning here that the system of fitness certification given to public service vehicles (PSVs) is totally rotten, corrupt and unprofessional. Motor Vehicle Examiners (MVEs) are legally empowered to check the fitness of vehicles and issue them certificates to ply on the roads under the Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1955 and Motor Vehicles Rules 1969. These MVEs come directly under the supervision of DCOs but the district administration has given free hand to MVEs and they have been found to be issuing fitness certificates even to faulty vehicles.

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HSSC examinations
Islamabad: The Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) would hold the supplementary examination of the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) on October 6.

The roll number slips of the candidates appearing in the said examination have been dispatched at the addressees given by them in the admission forms.

In case, the roll number slips if not received by any candidate, he/she should immediately contact the following officers of the Board at the given telephone numbers for obtaining the same.

Controller of examinations (conduct) telephone number. 051-9250606 fax no. 051-9250607, Deputy Controller of Examinations (HSSC Conduct) telephone no. 051-9250619, Assistant Controller of Examinations (HSSC Conduct) telephone no. 051-9250641 and Assistant Secretary one window cell telephone no. 051-9250651.

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QAU announces scholarship for flood affected students
Islamabad: Quaid-i-Azam University Alumni Association (QAUAA) on Wednesday announced scholarship to help students of the university belonging to the flood affected areas.

This assistance would be provided to the enrolled flood affected students at QAU which would include financial assistance for meeting the expenses incurred on academic fee, hostel dues and mess charges.

QAUAA Secretary General Murtaza Noor said that the members of the Alumni Association would repeat the same spirit, which had been shown during earthquake 2005, and previous floods.

He said that for making the process transparent, all the possible measures would be taken including sorting help of administration, departmental heads of QAU and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). He has also appealed to the alumni members to contribute generously to the relief fund established by QAU and its Alumni Association. This assistance would be additional to already announce 35 need based scholarships.

QAU Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr Masoom Yasinzai had also urged the alumni members to come forward to help the flood affected QAU student in this critical time otherwise these students would be unable to continue their studies.

QAU and QAUAA had already signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to extend cooperation for the benefit of the present and old students of the university. Under the MOU, it was decided that QAUAA would offer certain Need Based Scholarships to the students of QAU.

QAUAA would establish a separate head for these offered scholarships as on the pattern on Dr. Razi-u-din Siddiqui Scholarship Programme. QAU would financially support any student who gets education at QAU from remote/hard areas of Pakistan. QAU would also assist the students of QAU in career counseling and job placement. Both the organizations would stay in touch to undertake different welfare programme for the benefit of students. app

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AIOU budget approved
Islamabad: A meeting of the Finance Committee of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) was chaired by AIOU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Nazir Ahmed Sangi, which approved budget of the university for financial year 2010-2011 unanimously, says a press release.

Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, MNA and Barrister Syed Feroz Jamal Kaka Khail were also present in the meeting. Student Support Fund set up by AIOU to help poor, deprived, isolated, needy and deserving students has been appreciated by all the members.

Eid bonus granted to university s employees on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr and others has also been approved. With reference to saving fund, Professor Dr. Nazir Ahmed Sangi highlighted that energy efforts are being made to make proper utilization of energy so as to reduce financial burden.

The members wanted to hold a special meeting of the committee to formulate financial planning for batter utilisation of the budget as the Higher Education Commission has reduced the grant to AIOU. The news

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