KARAK: The Government Teachers Alliance (GTA) has demanded an end to political interference in the education department and asked the district government to remove the ban on utilisation of conditional grant to provide missing facilities in schools.

They set Sept 26 deadline for acceptance of their demands otherwise they would hold protest demonstration outside the press club. The demands came at a meeting here on Tuesday chaired by All Primary Teachers Association (APTA) district president Javaid Iqbal Khattak.

The meeting was also attended by office bearers of Tanzeem-i-Asataza, Wahdat Astaza, Malgari Ustazan and Insaf Teachers Association.

The participants demanded that the ban imposed by the district nazim on utilisation of conditional grant meant for provision of missing facilities in educational institutions should be lifted and the head teachers should be directed to resume work on the grant to provide basic facilities to schools to improve quality of education.

They demanded that the orders of those primary schoolteachers who had been upgraded from scale 12 to 14 should be released forthwith, and salaries of teachers of different cadres who had been recruited through NTS in March 2016 should also be released.

LOCALS PROTEST: The residents of Chountra held a protest demonstration against excessive loadshedding and asked the Peshawar Electric Power Supply Company (Pesco) to conduct loadshedding according to the schedule. The cruel loadshedding and low voltage have created shortage of drinking water in the area.

The villagers marched on Karak-Palosa Sar road and held a protest meeting at Saratkhel bus stop. The speakers resolved to launch a protest movement across the district if the Pesco did not change the habit of suspending power for long hours without any prior notice.

They claimed that more than 20 hours of loadshedding was an open joke with the people of the district. They also complained about low voltage which damaged their electric appliances.

The speakers threatened that if the situation didn’t improve they would stop paying the agreed monthly bill of Rs1,000.

Published in Dawn September 21st, 2016