MANSEHRA: Chairman of the Mansehra District Development Advisory Committee MPA Akram Ghazi on Monday said work on hundreds of development projects in all five tehsils of the district would begin soon.

“The government has approved funds for hundreds of development schemes, and work on them will begin shortly after the completion of the tendering process,” Mr Ghazi told the inauguration ceremony for the Namshira-Jugran Road in Oghi tehsil here.

The event was attended by government representatives and villagers.

“Our government has prioritised education, healthcare, infrastructure and water schemes, which is why substantial funds have been allocated for them,” Ghazi said.

Says funds okayed by govt for hundreds of schemes

He said that for the first time, he, as an elected representative from Oghi, had raised the issues of residents in the provincial assembly.

“You have elected me to address your problems, so I will leave no stone unturned for the purpose,” he said.

The MPA said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf was working peacefully to ensure the early release of its founder, Imran Khan, from jail.

“[Imran] Khan has been detained in fabricated cases, but the time is not far when he will be a free man again,” he said.

On the occasion, chairman of Joda village council Khan Mohammad highlighted the villagers’ issues, especially dilapidated roads.

“People in many villages face difficulties in travelling and are unable to transport patients to healthcare facilities in time,” he said.

Mr Mohammad said with the construction of that road, lives of residents would improve and that they could take their agricultural yields to the market on time.

TIMBER SEIZED: The police have seized a large cache of high-quality timber by foiling their illegal transportation from different parts of the district to Punjab and other areas of the country.

“We have intercepted and seized a significant quantity of timber being smuggled from Darband to an unknown destination in Punjab via a truck,” Oghi senior superintendent of police Nazir Khan told reporters on Monday.

He said a police team, led by SHO Hassan Khan, intercepted a truck on the Darband-Oghi Road and seized 72 beams of high-quality deodar wood.

“The provincial government has imposed a ban on tree felling and transportation, but smugglers attempted to violate it by transporting a truckload of beams,” he said.

The SSP said that the seized timber and the truck driver were handed over to the forest department for legal action.

“In compliance with the orders of district police officer Shafiullah Khan Gandapur, we have also deployed personnel on the routes commonly used by smugglers to illegally transport timber from forests to other parts of the country,” he said.

Meanwhile, the police intercepted another vehicle in the Shinkiari area and seized a huge cache of illegal timber.

According to police, the wood was being shifted through a mini-wagon from Siren Valley to other parts of the district.

A police team from the Shinkiari police station stopped the vehicle on the Karakoram Highway, seized the timber, and arrested the driver.

According to police officials, the driver attempted to speed away, but the police followed the vehicle and successfully intercepted it. The seized timber and the driver were handed over to the forest department for legal action.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025