TIMERGARA: Local residents on Tuesday complained the Government High School for Boys Bandai destroyed by militants five years ago had yet to be rebuilt.

Over 700 children are enrolled in the school.

Militants blew up around 80 schools, both for boys and girls, in Lower Dir in 2009 and 2010.

Of them, 60 have been functional again after reconstruction. However, the rest, including Government High School Bandai, await reconstruction.

Elders of the village said local schools reopened on March 2 after the winter vacation but heavy rains stopped the Government High School Bandai students from attending classes due to absence of shelter on the premises.

They said last year, schoolchildren sat examinations in nearby mosques but this year, they were not allowed to do so.

The elders said representatives of several government institutions and nongovernmental organisations visited the area and even drew plans to reconstruct damaged schools but nothing happened on ground.

Besides early reconstruction of the school, they also demanded that the education department make arrangements at other educational institutions in the area so that students could sit the imminent examinations.

PSF DEMAND: The Pakhtun Student Federation Maidan leaders on Tuesday complained local Jamaat-i-Islami lawmaker Saeed Gul had done nothing to resolve the local residents’ grievances.

PSF leaders Siraj Khan, Arshad Khan and Nasir Javed told reporters in Kumbar Maidan area that power transformer of Parri Kas village had been out of order for two weeks.

He also complained transporters charged old fares despite a sharp decline in fuel prices over the last four months.

The PSF leaders said the authorities were indifferent to the overcharging of commuters by transporters.

They also complained about the excessive loadshedding and said women had to fetch drinking water from distant places due to the power cuts of around 16 hours daily.

The PSF leaders said roads in Balambat Maidan and adjoining areas were in bad shape.

They said the local lawmaker had done nothing for the resolution of the problems despite repeated protests by the people and that no development work had taken place in the area over the last two years.

The PSF leaders said the local residents would not vote for the JI in the next elections over its lawmaker’s failure to deliver the goods.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2015

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