KOHAT: Work on Darmalak small dam, which was suspended in 2008 due to bad law and order situation in the area, has been resumed and the project would now be completed in June 2016.

According to officials, Darmalak is a remote village of Lachi tehsil receiving an average annual rainfall of about 21.48 inches. There is no proper canal system and the area is rain-fed. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government has allocated Rs488 million for the dam.

Chanda Fateh Khan Dam is the only other reservoir in Lachi teshil that has been irrigating barren lands of the surrounding areas.

The new dam is being constructed on Maramzai Toi at Darmalak, about 24km from Kohat. Work on the dam had started in 2007 and its completion was due in 2009, but due to poor law and order situation at that time the work was stopped.

The dam will have 10-kilometre long channels and it will irrigate an estimated 4,000 acres of barren land. It will have catchment area of 41.48 square miles and storage capacity of 8,497 acre ft water.

SUSPECTS HELD: The police arrested 54 suspects and recovered a big quantity of weapons from them during the ongoing operation here on Tuesday. Two tenants were also held for not informing the police about their stay in the area and sent to prison.

All the SHOs of 12 police stations have been asked to carry out operations against criminals throughout the district daily. Police said that seizure from the 54 suspects included two Kalashnikovs, four repeaters, three rifles, six shotguns, 16 pistols, 27 chargers and five kilogrammes of hashish.

Meanwhile, a police constable was arrested for firing and injuring a tractor driver in Kalo Khan Banda for overtaking his motorcycle on Tuesday. The police said that constable Haroon was going home in Ambar Banda when a tractor overtook his motorcycle.

They said that Haroon stopped the tractor and exchange of harsh words ensued between him and the driver Mudassir Shah, a resident of Shiekhan village during which he pulled out his official pistol and fired a shot at the driver, leaving him injured.

The city police have registered a case against the constable.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2015

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