January 31, 2006	Tuesday	Muharram 1, 1427

KARACHI, Jan 30: City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal on Monday urged the youth to derive maximum benefit from modern information technology through sharing of knowledge and experience with others across the world.

“Like European Union and other such regions, people of southern Asia should also take steps to come closer,” he said while speaking at the inaugural session of ‘Youth Leadership Conference-2006’ organized jointly by the Young Social Reformer and Community Development Department of the City District Government here on Monday.

Youth from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka besides those from various parts of the country attended the conference the aim of which was to shed light on topics, including education, health and HIV/AIDS and women development and gender equality.

The speakers on the occasion agreed that the Third World countries were witnessing an increased number of problems in connection with these issues.

The topic of information technology came under detailed discussion. The speakers discussed ways to promote IT education in the light of what was going on in the developed countries.

PEDESTRIAN BRIDGES: On the directive of City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal, the city government is taking steps for the improvement of traffic system in the city. These steps will include the construction of overhead pedestrian bridges.

Contracts have been signed with different companies for the construction of these bridges on a build, own and transfer (BOT) basis, said Transport EDO Mohammad Athar while speaking at the inaugural session of the two-day ‘Road Safety Education Training’ programme here on Monday.

He pointed out that children were victims of 26 per cent of traffic accidents in the city and added that it was in this context that the CDGK had decided to impart road-safety training to schoolteachers of the 18 towns of the city.

These trained teachers would then provide road-safety education to students in their schools, he added.

Traffic DSP Abbas Ali Shah, the additional district officer for transport, and other related speakers would deliver lectures on the topic during the two-day training.

On the first day of the training course, DO for Road Safety Amir Hussain and ADO Zafar Ehsan in their lectures stressed the need for attending teachers to teach students in their schools the guiding principles of crossing roads safely and hold debates to promote knowledge in this regard.

BILLBOARDS: On the directive of the city nazim, the city government on Monday continued its operation against irregular and illegal billboards in the city and removed such boards from 210 places.

According to a press release, the CDGK staff removed illegal, substandard and irregular billboards from Do Talwar in Clifton, Shaheed-i-Millat Road, Sharea Faisal, Shahrah-i-Quaideen, Nazimabad, Hawkesbay, Korangi Industrial Area, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Rashid Mishas Road, Shahrah-i-Pakistan and Rizvia Society.—APP