KOHAT: The rains continuing in Hangu and Orakzai Agency for five days have flooded the Kohat Toi natural stream and thus, inundating dozens of houses in Hafizabad area in Kohat.

Kohat Toi originates in Orakzai Agency.

The rain water damaged the people’s belongings and forced residents to move out.

According to locals, a former MNA had occupied Kohat Toi section in Hafizabad area before selling plots on it. Also, cultivation of orchards in its way shortened the natural stream’s width.

They, however, insisted their repeated requests to the administration for crackdown on encroachers fell on deaf ears.

The stream bursts its banks every year and flooding nearby areas.

The local residents demanded strict action against illegal sellers and buyers of land on the course of stream to ensure smooth flow of water.

They complained that no official or volunteers came to their help and therefore, they had to vacate houses on their own.

MAN KILLED: An elderly man died and another suffered injuries after lightning struck them in Kamalkhel area on Friday.

The deceased was Nabeel and the injured Samiullah.

Local police registered a case and began investigation.

MAN DROWNS: Noor Mohammad, 8, on Friday drowned in flood water in Kohat Toi.

The efforts of the local residents and divers to trace the body didn’t bear fruit.

The deceased belonged to Dhoda area in Kohat.

DEADLINE FOR SHOPKEEPERS: The local administration on Friday gave shopkeepers seven days to vacate a hospital’s occupied land in Hangu, saying if encroachment stays put, shopkeepers will face the music.

The deadline was set by assistant commissioner Farrukh Attique during a visit to the area along with additional assistant commissioner Hussain Bangash and officials of the tehsil municipal administration and education department.

Mr Attique examined the land record and found that three shops built in a corner of the Liaquat Memorial Hospital at Hangu Square were illegal and that the property belonged to the health department.

In 2011, the administration had asked shopkeepers in question to pay rent to the hospital but the latter refused to do so.

POLICE FORM COMMITTEE: The police on Friday formed a 16-strong committee for bridging the gap between the department and the people and controlling crime in Mansehra.

Former chief justice of the Peshawar High Court Syed Ibne Ali is the committee’s chairman and poet Shahid Zaman its secretary, while Dr Matiullah Shah, district khateeb Maulana Sharifullah, Azam Khan, Feroze Khan, Mohammad Shuja, former district nazim Haji Sardar Khan, Dr Haji Gul, Qamar Zaman Shinwari, Malik Fazl e Rabbi, Mohammad Anwar, Shafiullah Durrani, Mian Shah Raza, Syed Haji Mohammad and Syed Qasim Ali Shah will be its members.

The committee was set up at the office of district police officer Saleem Marwat.

Mr Marwat highlighted the committee’s role for peace and people’s welfare in the district and said members of the panel would sit in the Saddar police station next Monday.

He expressed the hope that the committee would help resolve the people’s minor problems at the police station level.