Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has directed the Relief and Rehabilitation Department to expand the Rescue-1122 service to all tehsils in the province. In view of the changing conditions and climatic variations, Chief Minister, Mahmood Khan has always taken personal interest in establishing Rescue-1122 and expanding the service in the field of relief. On the special instructions of Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan, Department of Planning and Development, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa not only approved the plans for several districts, but in many districts the Rescue-1122 service is operational today and this series is now expanding to the Tehsil level. In a statement, the chief minister said that all the available resources would be utilized to strengthen the Rescue-1122 on modern lines with the aim to ensure the availability of timely rescue services to the citizen. In the relief sector, in the last fiscal year, the Planning and Development Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Development Working Party meeting approved plans worth about 10 billion for the establishment of new substations in the province including the newly merged districts. The relief operations were underway due to heavy rains in the affected districts of the province. Stakeholders urged to play role in reducing, controlling air pollution: Speakers at a workshop on Thursday urged all stakeholders including drivers, transporters and masses to play their role to reduce and control air pollution. Speaking during a day-long workshop on air pollution in Peshawar city jointly organized by Directorate of Transport and Mass Transit Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Department of Environmental Science University of Peshawar, the speakers stressed that as responsible citizens everyone should show seriousness in tackling this global issue. Secretary Transport Amir Lateef who was chief guest on the occasion said that the transport department was going to develop various policies aimed at controlling and reducing vehicular air pollution. He said that revolutionary steps were being taken in the Directorate of Transport and Mass Transit and for the first time in history the National Environmental Standards (NEQS) have been changed to international standards to check the pollution being emitted by vehicles. He said that stations for testing vehicles have been established in nine districts of the province including Peshawar, Mardan, Swat, Malakand, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Kohat, Bannu and DI Khan and 14 mobile laboratories were functioning in this regard. These machines measure the emissions of vehicles and if the emissions are below the prescribed national environmental standards, the vehicles are given a pass certificate which is valid for six months. If the smoke level of the vehicle exceeds the prescribed national environmental standards, it is fined and the documents are confiscated, while the expert technicians of the Vehicles Emission Testing Stations (VETS) team of the Transport Department inform the vehicle owners of the defects of the vehicles and their rectification. The secretary announced a three-month paid internship for the students of the Environmental Sciences Department of University of Peshawar, adding that Rs 25,000 would be paid per month to the internees. Professor Dr Muhammad Nafees, chairman Environmental Science Department, Dr Shekhla Nazneen, Dr Hizbullah, Dr Tariq Usman, deputy director PIR, Zubair, Manager VETS, Lecturer Dr Shehla Nazneen, Dr Khazabullah and other also delivered lectures regarding air pollution.