KOHAT, March 5: The provincial government grant of Rs5 million meant for the repair of city roads would be spent with the consent of the district council nazims of Urban I and Urban II under the supervision of the district coordination officer (DCO).

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting here on Monday, involving DCO Shahab Shah, nazims of union councils Urban I and II and office-bearers of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl).

The meeting was a follow-up of the talks earlier held between Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrnai and the JUI-F office-bearers. The JUI-F office-bearers had asked the chief minister to keep the Town Municipal Administration (TMA) away from the utilisation of the Rs5 million grant announced by him. They had accused the TMA of massive corruption in the public funds and said cases against its senior staff were pending with the NAB.

They said since the grant was being provided by the provincial government, the TMA should have no right over its utilisation.

The issue, therefore, was settled on the intervention of the DCO and the nazims of union councils urban I and II. It was agreed that the money would be spent with the consent of the district council nazims under the supervision of the DCO.

The members identified broken roads in Jangle Khel and on Rawalpindi road and it was decided that the Communication and Works Department of the NWFP would carry out the repair work.

Meanwhile, according to complaints lodged with the District Complaint Cell, various inquiry teams including those of the NAB have declared the TMA a hub of corruption where two TMOs alone have embezzled more than Rs30 million in four years.

It is alleged that a small part of road from the Timber Market to Hangu Square repaired by the TMA at a cost of Rs5 million three months back had been washed away in recent rains.

Despite being the second richest towns, the Kohat TMA has not been able to pay electricity dues of Wapda for the last six years and the same are being borne by the provincial government.

Wapda deducts the bills at source from the federal government funds distributed to the districts under the new governing system which delays payment of salaries every year.

Owning property worth billions of rupees, the TMA is accused of allotting land in the old bus-stand, chicken market and old jail to 200 vendors under fake names and distributing the rents thus received among its officials. Moreover, illegal kiosks set up along a number of roads have been allegedly allotted to influential people against an amount ranging between Rs5,000 and Rs10,000 a year whereas the owners collect Rs3,000 per month. Even footpaths have been rented out to Afghan refugees for Rs100 per day per five square-metres.

Bazaar union president Mohammad Abid, chairman of Kohat Chamber of Commerce and Industry Manzoor Ahmed Paracha, chairman of vegetable and fruit market association Saifullah Khan and the residents of various colonies have demanded strict action against “the corrupt elements who have been controlling the TMA for the past several years.”

They also demanded cancellation of all contracts awarded during the last three years by the TMOs.

Mr Saifullah criticised the district government’s decision to shift the vegetable market outside the city and said it would cause a lot of problems to the people already suffering from the shifting of bus-stand 7km away from the city limits. He said if the market was shifted, the old place would be occupied by the TMA and allotted fraudulently. He said after the shifting of the bus-stand, the district government had allowed stops for the convenience of commuters at four different places in the city because approaching the bus-stand was costing people an additional Rs100.