KOHAT: All the three bodies responsible for cleanliness in the city have failed to remove garbage daily from their assigned places despite regularly collecting tax and receiving grant from the government.

The city’s cleanliness task was divided among the tehsil municipal administration, water supply and sanitation company (WSSC), and the cantonment board eight months ago.

The WSSC commissioned in April last could not lift garbage from the city’s squares and dustbins which emit fumes of bad smell the whole day. Garbage dumps could be seen at the KDA Town, Junglekhel, Khattak Colony, old bus stand, chicken market, Miankhel Bazaar, Mustafa Bazaar, Garhi Atta Khan, Shah Faisal Gate, etc. There are places such as vacant plots from where garbage has not been removed for months.

The president of bazaar union, Abid Paracha, said that the main cause of the problem was that all the officials working in WSSC belonged to Peshawar who came in the morning and leave in the afternoon. He said that these officials had no interest in cleanliness in Kohat.

Local people and traders said that since November 16 rain almost all the blocked drains had not been opened, spilling dirty water on the city roads.

A resident, Qaiser Butt, said that the drains near Peshawar Chowk had not been opened though the people had been paying the tax regularly. A medical store owner at Peshawar Chowk, Saleh Mohammad, regretted that a choked drain in front of their shops had not been cleared despite complaints.

When contacted, head of human resource at WSSC, Tahir Khan, said that the actual problem was encroachments and handcarts in the bazaars. About procurement of staff and machinery for cleanliness, he said that the matter was being delayed from the government side. He admitted that garbage could not be removed timely due to staff shortage.

CLASH AVERTED: An imminent clash was averted between the organisers and protesting clerics who were demanding closure of the ‘winter family festival’ at the Company Park here on Sunday night.

A heavy police deployment was, however, able to stop resistance by the clerics and ensure carrying on the festival amid fear among families visiting the park.

The religious parties, led by JUI-F, had warned MPA Ziaullah Bangash not to hold the winter family festival and staged a protest in front of the park demanding immediate closure of the gala. They gathered at the main gate and raised slogans such as ‘obscenity not acceptable’ and ‘down with PTI’.

Sources said that the function which was to start at 5:00pm began at 6.30pm when Mr Bangash entered the venue of the event amid tight security.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2017