KOHAT: Hundreds of residents of the Labour Colony staged a demonstration at the Martyrs Square here on Sunday against the Peshawar Electric Supply Company officials over suspension of electricity to the area for the second consecutive day.

Pesco officials, however, said the electricity to the colony was disconnected over non-payment of Rs20 million arrears.

The protesters raised slogans against the Pesco officials and threatened to block the main road if power supply was not restored immediately. The protest forced the Pesco officials to restore the power supply on the condition that the residents would deposit the arrears.

Separately, people visiting the KDA Teaching Hospital have demanded immediate replacement of the obsolete water filters at the facility.

The residents said the water filters had not been replaced for years, criticizing the performance of the health officials.

The bazaar union chairman Haji Abid Khan and president of Sons of Kohat, a cluster of a dozen NGOs, Shah Mehmood expressed serious concern about the dirty filters. They said people using water from the filters were contracting different diseases.

They asked the medical superintendent and the public health engineering department officials to immediately replace the clogged filters. They appealed to the deputy commissioner to take notice of the criminal negligence of the relevant officials.

ARRESTED: The police on Sunday arrested two drug peddlers and recovered hashish from them, besides arresting another man and recovering five stolen batteries of vehicles from him.

The police launched the action on public complaints about the sale of drugs in the posh KDA Township and city areas and stealing of batteries from vehicles.

A police official said SHO city Vaqar Khan and in-charge of tehsil checkpost Iqbal Khan conducted a raid at the old bus stand and arrested a peddler, Nadir Ali of Shakardara, and seized five kilogrammes hashish from him.

Similarly, a team led by SHO KDA Township police station Zafar Khan arrested Akhunzada of Hafizabad and seized over one kilogramme hashish from him.

Also, the police arrested Roghan Shah during a raid on his house in Junglekhel and recovered five stolen batteries of vehicles from there.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2023