SWABI: The continuous rain for three days has damaged the mud houses across the district, causing worries to the owners. Abdul Karim of Palodand village told Dawn that: “Mud houses cannot survive the continuous rain for a long time and once they start leaking then it becomes difficult to stop that.”

Gul Zar Khan of Saleem Khan village said they had bought sheets of plastic to protect their roofs from damage and leaking, but the wind blew them away.

Meanwhile, in many areas the drains chocked by plastic bags overflowed inundating roads and even the water entered the houses in some localities. The low-lying areas like Kadi village, Sheikh Dheri, Beka, Kaya, Anbar, Tordher, and some areas in Kalu Khan union council were inundated.Due to rain the attendance in colleges and schools remained thin on Tuesday.

BOY SEEKS HELP FOR CANCER TREATMENT: Waqas Ahmad, a 25-year-old poverty-stricken boy, who is suffering from deadly bone marrow cancer, needs Rs2 million for treatment and the delay could push him into an unrecoverable stage of level three from current recoverable level two.

The disease had been diagnosed on Dec 26 when he was taken to Armed Forces Bone Marrow Transplant Centre, Rawalpindi. Chemotherapy is the optimum treatment for the disease, which would cost about Rs2 million. The amount is to be deposited in advance.

Waqas’s father drives a rickshaw, earning livelihood for the five-member family. When the locals came to know about Waqas’s disease, a group led by Ateeq Khan started collecting donations while going from house to house in Kotha village. “We have so far collected Rs100,000 from people,” he said.

The people also approached National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar to provide financial assistance to the poor boy. However, so far he has not extended any generous financial help.

WOMEN CYCLE RALLY: Local NGOs have criticised the religious parties for threatening protests which resulted in cancellation of the women cycle race in Peshawar.

They told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the women cycle race was not properly handled and threat to such incidents should be prevented. They demanded that the provincial government and political parties shun their differences, and play due role in avoiding such incidents in future.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2019