KOHAT: The recent rains have caused big holes and cracks in the city roads, making it difficult for the motorists and pedestrians to travel.

Since 2003 the tehsil municipal administration has been making allocations in its annual budget for repair of all the main roads of the city, but the amount is not utilised. The city roads are in disarray due to use of substandard material, technical faults in their designing and defective drainage system.

Additionally, every year an amount of Rs3.5 million is sanctioned by the town council for the purpose, but the concerned TMA officials have failed to utilise the money for unknown reasons.

The roads are turned into pools of water whenever it rains at Shah Faisal Gate and Tehsil Gate entrances, timber and chicken markets, Bannu Bazaar, Main Bazaar, Bazar-i-Mustafa, Bannu bypass, old bus stand and Charsi Bazaar. Bad condition of the road has been causing inconvenience to the motorists and pedestrians.

A TMA official, Imtiaz said the things would improve after the job was given to a Turkish sanitation company. He added that an office of the company had already been established. He said water accumulated on the roads due to choked drains and garbage dumps.

However, it is strange that the same TMA sanitation staff would work for the foreign company, according to officials.

JOINT CHECKPOSTS: Joint checkposts of security forces and police have been established at all the exit and entry points of the Kohat city in view of the threats of attacks on important establishments on Independence Day from the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

Similarly, deputy commissioner Kohat has, under section 144, declared stretch of the road from Peshawar Chowk to Bannu Gate Chowk as traffic red-zone, and prohibited entry of passenger vehicles for a period of 30 days to avoid any untoward incident during the Independence Day celebrations. In order to ensure smooth flow of traffic in Kohat city vehicles except those with specific stickers would be allowed to ply in the red-zone.

A statement issued here by the police said a combing operation had been launched on the outskirts of the city, hotels, inns and Afghan refugee camps during which 50 suspects, including a proclaimed offender, were held. Seven suspicious people were also arrested from around the cadet college which has been declared a sensitive place. Fifteen persons, one Afghan national and a proclaimed offender among them, were rounded up from the city and Ublan and Ghamkol refugee camps.

The police also recovered weapons, including three Kalashnikovs, two rifles, two guns, seven pistols, daggers and hundreds of cartridges.

The suspects were shifted to the city police station where cases were registered against some of them for keeping illegal weapons.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2016