KOHAT, July 19: The government constructed 80 houses for the destitute and widows at a cost of Rs4.6 million in 2000 in the KDA township.

Sources claimed that most of these three-and-a-half-marla houses were distributed among the ‘favourties’ by the local Zakat department, who never inhabited them.

All the 80 houses are without electricity and water connections although the adjacent army officers colony has all such facilities. The refugees living nearby the project site are taking away the bricks, windows and doors.

Two of the houses are being used by a contractor as a store for his construction material. The contractor is paying Rs3,500 monthly in rent to the owner of the house.

When the chairman of the Zakat committee, Ahmed Bakhsh Awan, was contacted for comments, he said: “Press is not allowed to meddle in the government affairs and he is not bound to disclose the details of the issue”.

The KDA authorities said that more than Rs1 million was required for the repair of these houses. But, they added, the Zakat department had to re-allot these houses in a fair manner to those who really needed the shelter and were living in the open on the outskirts of Kohat.