Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
The Immigration Department (ImmD) announced today (March 27) that, with effect from March 31 (Monday), the eligible age for Hong Kong permanent residents holding a smart identity card to use the e-Channel service will be adjusted to seven years old or above.
The ImmD has been making good use of technology and adopting various measures to optimise the service quality and enhance the handling capacity of control points. At present, eligible Hong Kong permanent residents aged 11 or above holding a smart identity card can use the e-Channel service. To further enhance the clearance efficiency of control points and allow more Hong Kong residents to use the fast and convenient e-Channel service, starting from March 31, the ImmD will adjust the applicable age for e-Channel service for holders of smart identity cards. Eligible Hong Kong permanent residents aged seven to ten years old, who are at least 1.1 metres tall and hold a smart identity card and a valid Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Passport, can use the e-Channels without prior enrolment for self-service immigration clearance via face recognition technology at all control points.
For details of the e-Channel service available to smart identity card holders, please visit the ImmD website (www.immd.gov.hk/eng/mec.html). For enquiries, please call the enquiry hotline at 2824 6111, fax 2877 7711, or send an email to enquiry@immd.gov.hk.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Police today (March 27) appealed to the public for information on a man who went missing in Tsuen Wan.
Lam Ka-leung, aged 38, went missing after he left his caring home on Tsuen King Circuit yesterday (March 26) afternoon. Staff of the caring home made a report to Police today.
He is about 1.7 metres tall, 90 kilograms in weight and of fat build. He has a round face with yellow complexion and short black hair. He was last seen wearing a light blue long-sleeved shirt, brown trousers, black shoes and carrying a black crossbody bag.
Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the missing man or may have seen him is urged to contact the Regional Missing Persons Unit of New Territories South on 3661 1176 or 5239 7701 or email to rmpu-nts-2@police.gov.hk, or contact any police station.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
​Hongkong Post announced today (March 27) that, as advised by the postal administration of Korea, due to the impact of wildfires, mail delivery services to the areas with the postcodes 364xx–367xx and 374xx are subject to delay.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
​Three men were each sentenced to three to four months’ imprisonment and fined between $500 and $1,000 at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts today (March 27) for possessing duty-not-paid cigarettes and failing to declare to Customs Officers, in contravention of the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance (DCO).
Customs officers intercepted three incoming male passengers, aged 36, 39 and 48, at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday (March 26). About 37 000, 39 000 and 40 000 duty-not-paid cigarettes, with an estimated market value of about $484,000 and a duty potential of about $390,000 in total, were seized from their personal baggage. They were subsequently arrested.
Customs welcomes the sentence. The custodial sentence has imposed a considerable deterrent effect and reflects the seriousness of the offences. Customs reminds members of the public that under the DCO, tobacco products are dutiable goods to which the DCO applies. Any person who deals with, possesses, sells or buys illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $1 million and imprisonment for two years.
Members of the public may report any suspected illicit cigarette activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002/en).
2026 Taiwan Fellowship is open for application from May 1 to June 30 2025
Taiwan Fellowship is established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) for foreign researchers to do research in Taiwan.
※ Eligibility: Recipients shall be foreign professors, associate professors, assistant professors, post-doctoral researchers, doctoral candidates, or doctoral program students at related departments of overseas universities, or are research fellows at an equivalent level in academic institutions abroad, of Canadian Citizenship, with researches related to Taiwan, Cross-strait Relations, Asia-Pacific Region, Regional Security, Sinology, Cyber Security, Countering Misinformation or Disinformation, Tech-Diplomacy or Global Supply Chain Resilience etc.
※ The Fellowship Includes:
(1) Professors, associate professors, research fellows, or associate research fellows: NT$60,000/monthly; assistant professors, assistant research fellows, or doctoral candidates: NT$50,000/monthly
(2) One round-trip, economy-class ticket for the most direct route to Taiwan (The subsidy will be decided by MOFA in accordance with the relevant regulations; Oceania: Up to NT$65,000).
(3) The terms of fellowship are 3 to 12 months.
(4) Casualty insurance (plus a medical insurance for accidental injuries) coverage of NT$1 million.
※ More information：https://taiwanfellowship.ncl.edu.tw/eng/index.aspx
If any questions should arise, please contact Bruce Chou via cychou01@mofa.gov.tw
Secretary for Environment & Ecology Tse Chin-wan today attended the 2025 Macao International Environmental Co-operation Forum & Exhibition (MIECF) in Macau and officiated at its opening ceremony with Macau officials.
The Environment & Ecology Bureau’s booth at the exhibition presents a number of innovative initiatives adopted by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and Hong Kong industries.
The booth comprises information boards on carbon reduction strategies such as carbon neutrality, energy saving and environmentally friendly buildings, green transportation, community waste reduction and smart technology. It also features videos demonstrating the use of innovative green technologies promoted by the Hong Kong SAR Government.
The environment chief then paid a courtesy call on Secretary for Transport & Public Works of the Macao SAR Government Tam Vai-man to discuss various environmental subjects and collaboration opportunities.
Mr Tse noted that to seize the opportunities brought by the country’s dual carbon strategies, the bureau and the Environmental Protection Department are exploring growth opportunities with neighbouring regions while supporting Hong Kong’s innovation and technology development.
These efforts include strengthening collaboration with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’s cities in building low-carbon communities, developing decarbonisation technologies, promoting low-carbon products and nurturing talent, Mr Tse said.
The goal is to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050 and reduce carbon emissions by half before 2035 as compared to the 2005 level, he added.
After touring the exhibition and exchanging views with Hong Kong exhibitors, Mr Tse returned to Hong Kong in the afternoon.
The Lands Department today launched a 3D Visualisation Map of Hong Kong Island, New Territories Southwest and New Territories East, along with a 3D Indoor Map with coverage extended to the whole city and selected MTR stations, providing more comprehensive spatial data to the public.
Released in phases since 2022, 3D Digital Maps has now achieved full coverage of the city.
The 3D Visualisation Map of Hong Kong Island, New Territories Southwest and New Territories East covers around 122,000 buildings and about 3,300 infrastructure facilities including flyovers, footbridges and subways.
Additionally, around 30 selected MTR stations are covered in the 3D Indoor Map, offering information on points of interest and a supporting indoor point-to-point pedestrian routing service within the stations.
In combination with some 200 buildings included in the 3D Indoor Map of Kowloon East, Kowloon Central and Kowloon West released last year, the citywide 3D Indoor Map now covers around 600 buildings, including government and private buildings, community facilities and hospitals, providing information on their interior spaces and points of interest.
The data facilitates the development of innovative indoor data applications, such as location-based services, tourism and indoor navigation.
The “Streetscape 360” feature of the 3D Visualisation Map offers 360-degree street-level panoramic images and a measurement function, with coverage now extended from Kowloon, Lantau and New Territories Northwest to include Hong Kong Island and the entire New Territories.
The datasets of the 3D maps, relevant application programming interface and sample codes have been uploaded to the Common Spatial Data Infrastructure Portal and the online application platform Open3Dhk and can be downloaded for free.
Since August, 2019, Government of India is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in partnership with States to make provision of potable tap water supply in adequate quantity, of prescribed quality and on regular & long-term basis to every rural household in the country.
The Union Cabinet had approved the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission for five years i.e. from 2019-20 to 2023-24. For further continuation of the JJM, Hon’ble Finance Minister during budget speech 2025 announced the extension of JJM until 2028 with enhanced outlay. The extended period will focus on completing the remaining works under JJM by prioritizing the quality of infrastructure and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of rural piped water supply schemes through “Jan Bhagidhari” to ensure sustainability and citizen-centric water service delivery.
Water being a state subject, the responsibility of planning, approval, implementation, operation, and maintenance of drinking water supply schemes/ works, including those under the Jal Jeevan Mission, lies with State/UT Governments. The Government of India supports the States by providing technical and financial assistance.
To expedite the provision of tap water connections to all rural households in the country, concerted efforts have been made to accelerate the pace of implementation of JJM on ground. These include measures such as holding high level joint review meetings with the State governments on regular basis and visits of multi-disciplinary teams from the department to highlight areas which need attention for expediting implementation to make provision of tap water supply to all households in a time bound manner.
At the start of JJM in August 2019, only 3.23 Crore (16.8%) rural households were reported to have tap water connections. As reported by States/ UTs, as on 23.03.2025, around 12.31 Crore additional rural households have been provided with tap water connections under JJM. Thus, as on 24.03.2025, out of 19.37 Crore rural households in the country, approximately 15.54 Crore (80.29%) households are reported to have tap water supply.
Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) [SBM(G)] was launched on 2nd October, 2014 with the aim to eliminate open defecation in rural areas by 2nd October, 2019. SBM(G) has been implemented as Jan Andolan. Over 10 crore Individual household Latrines (IHHLs) constructed under Phase-I of SBM(G) and all the villages of the country declared themselves Open Defecation Free (ODF) by 2nd October, 2019. Having achieved the ODF status, Phase-II of SBM(G) is being implemented during the period from 2020-21 to 2025-26, with the focus on Open Defecation Free (ODF) sustainability and to cover all the villages with solid and liquid waste management i.e. converting the villages from ODF to ODF Plus (Model).
Some reputed organizations viz. World Health Organization (WHO), International Labour Organization, IIM Bangalore, Development Innovation Lab-University of Chicago, have undertaken assessment studies on impact of JJM on the lives of common people. These orgainzations have assessed the impacts of JJM in terms of employment generation, health, reduction in diarrhoeal deaths. The reports are available in public domain at the following URL:
Further, under JJM, this department regularly conducts ‘Functionality Assessment of tap connections’ through an independent 3rdparty agency. Under the assessment exercise, the functionality of tap connection is assessed on three parameters i.e. quantity (55 lpcd or more), quality and regularity i.e. water supply for all 12 months in a year or on daily basis. All these parameters are taken to define the functionality of the HH tap water connections, as per specified criteria. The reports of the last functionality assessment is also available in public domain at following URL:
Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) conducts Swachh Survekshan Grameen (SSG) through a third-party survey agency to carry out the assessment of household sanitation parameters, including Faecal Sludge Management (FSM), biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste management, and Grey Water Management (GWM). As part of the SSG, States/UTs are ranked on the basis of their performance attained on key quantitative and qualitative Swachhata parameters.
To bring transparency and effective monitoring, an online ‘JJM dashboard’ has been created, which provides State/ UT, district and village-wise progress as well as status of provision of tap water supply to rural homes.
The Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) of SBM(G) captures progress of the States/UTs against SBM(G) activities viz. construction of Individual and Community/Household Toilets, SLWM infrastructure, IEC, Capacity Building and administration related activities, including financial progress.
This information was provided by THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI SHRI V. SOMANNA in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
The State-wise details of National Highway (NH) Projects (under construction, completed during 2024-25, approved but yet to be commenced) in the Northeastern States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura including Bodoland area are as under:
Funds are not allocated project-wise but State-wise to meet the expenses for under construction works, completed works and approved but yet to commence NH projects. The funds allocated for development and maintenance works on National Highways in the State of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, and Tripura during 2024-25 are as below:
Completion of NH projects are dependent upon availability of encumbrance free land, forest clearance, environment clearance, utility shifting, working season, contractor’s financial position, etc. All the under-construction NH projects in the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura are scheduled to be completed by 2028.
(d) The steps taken to address challenges and prevent delays in executing NH projects in Northeastern region include the following:
(i) Streamlining of land acquisition
(ii) Disputes Resolution mechanism revamped
(iii) Award of projects after adequate preparation in terms of land acquisition, clearances, etc.
(iv) Correctly worked out utility estimates are to be obtained at the earliest after the alignment finalization and shall form part of appraisal proposal.
(v) Close coordination with all stakeholders including State Governments
(vi) Regular review at various levels
(vii) Expediting approval of Change of Scope and Extension of Time proposals
(viii) Network Planning Group appraisal before sanction of works so that issues regarding clearances can be flagged beforehand and solution can be worked out in advance.
(ix) Due provisions of protection works in inaccessible and challenging terrain are kept in Detailed Project Report.
This reply was given by the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari in a written statement to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha.
The Government has prioritized the maintenance of existing National Highway (NH) network and inter-alia evolved a mechanism to ensure Maintenance and Repair (M&R) of all NHs sections through accountable maintenance agency.
The M&R of stretches of NHs, where development works have commenced or Operation, Maintenance and Transfer (OMT) Concessions/ Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Contracts have been awarded, are the responsibility of the concerned Concessionaires/ Contractors till the end of the Defect Liability Period (DLP)/ the Concession Period. Similarly, for NHs stretches
undertaken under TOT (Toll Operate and Transfer) and InvIT (Infrastructure Investment Trust), M&R responsibility lies with concerned Concessionaire till the end of the Concession Period.
For all remaining sections of NHs stretches, Government has taken a policy decision to undertake maintenance works through Performance Based Maintenance Contract (PBMC) or Short Term Maintenance Contract (STMC).
In order to strengthen the enforcement of traffic rules for ensuring traffic management in the country, the Government brings amendments in the Motor Vehicles Act from time to time. In accordance with the provisions of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, Government had also published rules in August 2021 for Electronic Monitoring and Enforcement of Road Safety at high-risk and high-density corridors on National Highways, State Highways and at critical junctions in cities having a population of more than one million and cities under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in the country. Enforcement of these rules comes under the purview of the State / Union Territory (UT) Governments.
Additionally, the Government has taken up installation of Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) in Four lane and above NHs. ATMS has provisions for various electronic enforcement devices which help in speedy identification of incidents (including traffic violations) on the highway stretches and effectively monitor the highways, thereby improving incident response time and road safety.
All development works on NHs, including NHs in Hilly and Remote areas, are generally planned as All Weather Roads only. Works on NHs are taken up based on the traffic density, condition of the road, inter-se priority and synergy with PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP). At present, 1,310 NHs projects in 31,187 km length costing ₹8.11 Lakh Crore are under construction in the country.
For ensuring all-weather connectivity and effective traffic management on NHs in remote / hilly areas, weather / landslide warning & information systems are provided for guidance of traffic apart from tunnels and viaducts particularly in high altitude areas for seamless traffic movement.
The Government has issued standardized parameters for investigating hill slope stability & selecting cost-effective long-term stabilization measures for landslide-prone areas in hilly regions.
Further, sustainable bio-engineering measures such as coir/jute mat hydroseeding, interlinked chain mesh with green strips, bamboo piling by stepped berms and erosion control with Vetivar grass plantation on jute matting etc. have been implemented by the Government for stabilizing hilly and landslide prone areas, thereby enhancing safety on NHs in such areas. Construction of tunnel is also explored as an option in case the above solutions are not found feasible.
Steps taken by the Government to enhance traffic management have been elaborated in reply to Part (a).
Road safety engineering measures / works on NHs, including rectification of blackspots, are undertaken mainly as part of scope of development / maintenance works on NHs or as standalone projects in certain cases. Out of total 13,795 black spots identified on the NHs up to 2021-22, short-term rectification measures have been completed on 11,515 black spots and permanent rectification measures have been completed on 5,036 black spots. Further, Government has formulated a multi-pronged strategy to address the issue of road safety based on Education, Engineering (both of roads and vehicles), Enforcement and Emergency Care. Details of various initiatives taken to address road safety issues are at Annexure.
User-fee at user fee plaza is collected for the use of section of National Highway as per the provisions of National Highways Fee Rules applicable for the respective category of vehicles uniformly across the country.
This reply was given by the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari in a written statement to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha.