KOHAT: A disinfection gate installed at the entrance of the main bazaar has been missing, while another one placed at the entry point of the fruit market has been dysfunctional for the last three months.

The sanitising gate at the fruit market was installed by the Water Supply and Sanitation Company Kohat on the request of the tehsil municipal administration.

When contacted, tehsil municipal officer Mohammad Shoeb told Dawn that maintaining the disinfection gate was the responsibility of the WSSC.

However, the WSSC said running the gate was the responsibility of the TMA as it owned the vegetable market and had requested for the gate.

WSSC chief sanitary inspector Mohammad Sohail said the tehsil municipal officer had requested the company to install a disinfection gate at the entrance of the vegetable market to contain spread of coronavirus.

“WSSC chief executive officer Arif Rauf had given approval of the gate in the interest of the people and also promised to provide the required material for keeping the the tank filled. However, the TMO had assured that the municipal body would run it on its own,” Mr Sohail explained.

Similarly, a sanitising gate at the entrance of the main bazaar inaugurated by state minister for Kashmir affairs Sheharyar Afridi has gone missing.

Mr Sohail said he registered an FIR in the city police station, as according to the CCTV footage the staff of TMA was seen stealing the gate during the night.

He said the company staffers found the sanitising gate at the closed family park.

He regretted that both the gates were lying unused, but the TMA was not ready to either give them back to the WSSC or run them.

He said the company’s CEO had asked him to bring back the gate from the closed family park to the bazaar where it was required the most.

To a question, Mr Sohail said the WSSC was already operating sanitising gates installed on the premises of the local courts, the KDA Teaching Hospital and the adjacent medical college.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2020