MANSEHRA: A jirga on Thursday announced that trucks loaded with granite and other minerals won’t be allowed to pass through the Balian area of Oghi tehsil here.

“Our roads have been destroyed due to the transportation of granite and other minerals, we won’t allow trucks to use the roads connecting the mineral-rich areas with the Oghi-Mansehra Road,” elder Mohammad Jamal told reporters after the jirga.

The jirga, which was attended by chairman of the village council Kolka Haq Nawaz Khan, declared that trucks loaded with mega granite rocks wouldn’t be allowed to pass through their area.

“Blasting for minerals has led to a decline in water table and destruction of roads,” he said.

Another elder, Abdul Haq, said the jirga had decided to take that issue with the tehsil administration seeking a permanent ban on the excavation of granites and other minerals from the area.

“We won’t accept any pressure from mining companies and will never allow trucks to pass through our area,” he said.

Mr Khaliq said locals would block the local road to traffic if mining companies attempted to breach the jirga decrees.

“Our areas are without any financial benefits or royalty of mining industry for decades resulting in local infrastructure and potable water supply schemes being destroyed,” he said.

Village council chairman Haq Nawaz Khan said forests were being harvested in the garb of mining.

“The environment is being polluted through mining, deforestation and transportation,” he said.

VACANCIES: Deputy district education officer Maroof Khan on Thursday said the government was striving to ensure the availability of a teacher for 40 schoolchildren throughout the province.

“The government has filled almost all teacher posts lying vacant in the district to ensure a teacher for 40 students under quality education formula,” he told reporters here.

Mr Khan regretted that currently, around 4.5 million children aged 5-14 years were out of school in the province.

“Though we have launched an enrolment drive to take such children to educational institutions our efforts could meet to success only if civil society and parents come forward and join hands with us in this noble cause,” he said.

Mr Khan said 31 per cent of schoolchildren quit education during the primary stage because of financial restraints and other social barriers.

“Though the government increases budgetary allocations every year, its educational chunk is still stagnant, which affects this sector adversely,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2024