04 September 2004	Saturday	18 Rajab 1425

MANSEHRA, Sept 3: The District Nazim Syed Ahmad Hussain Shah has said that work on construction and repair of the buildings of 29 schools and 16 health units damaged in the earthquake in February this year has been started.

Speaking to the newsmen in his office here on Friday, he said that the council would not have to bear the burden of the cost because the financial assistance for the construction and repair work has been extended by an NGO World Vision.

He said that the convener of the education committee in the district council has been directed to visit the schools for monitoring the work. Syed Ahmad Hussain Shah said that teachers should focus their attention on providing quality education to the children.

He said that the district government in collaboration with the provincial government was making all efforts to solve the problems of the teachers so that they could perform their duty with a conviction and commitment.

The district nazim lauded the role of the NGOs in development and hoped that World Vision would extend more financial assistance for the uplift schemes in Mansehra.

STRAY DOGS: The number of stray dogs in Mansehra town is growing but the repeated requests of the residents to eliminate them are falling on the deaf ears of the TMA authorities.

People belonging to other areas of Mansehra tehsil also visit every day to the TMA office complaining about the presence of stray dogs but no steps have been taken by the municipal authorities to purge the area of the menace of stray dogs.

A number of dog bite cases have been reported during the past few months and deaths have also occurred due to rabies. A number of victims visit every day the EDO (health) office to get the anti-rabies vaccine.

In Mansehra town, the school children are most vulnerable to the dog bite. Dogs can be seen near the school. A major cause of growing number of stray dogs in the town is the presence of butchers' shops at scattered places in different bazaars where the stray dogs are attracted by the meat and offals.

Most of the butchers' shops in the town belong to Afghan refugees while a number of shops in the municipal slaughter house lie vacant. Effective steps are needed to be taken by the TMA authorities to restrict the butchers to a particular enclave or the municipal slaughter house and to eliminate the stray dogs before they could do more harm to the residents of the area.