TIMERGARA: The Lower Dir forest department will distribute over three million saplings among farmers in Jandol sub-division to be planted this year.

This was stated by forest range officer, Jandol, Nadar Khan while talking to media persons at Samar Bagh here on Wednesday. He said that a total of 145 private nurseries had been established in Jandol area, each of which had 25,000 saplings. Forester Farid Ahmad was also present on the occasion. He said that each of the small farmers would be given 500 saplings of various species.

Meanwhile, district director agriculture Murad Ali told media persons at Timergara that 2,8000 fruit trees would be planted on 250 acres in Lower Dir.

He said that the department would distribute orange, persimmon, apple, guava, peach, apricot and groundnut plants among farmers from seven tehsils of the district.

SLOW UPLIFT WORK: The Lower Dir district council members on Wednesday expressed their dissatisfaction over the performance of health department and slow pace of work on development projects in the district.

The council meeting was chaired by its convener Abdul Rashid. Speaking on the agenda, district nazim Mohammad Rasool Khan, Alam Zeb, Maulana Imran and Barkat Khan said that doctors had not given up private practice at the government hospitals.

The councillors said that there was no check on the sale of substandard medicines in the district. Some of the speakers said that passengers at the Timergara bus stand still faced hardships though the stand was auctioned for Rs71.2 million this year.

Meanwhile, Pakhtun labourers working in different areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir have accused the police there of teasing them on different pretexts.

Talking to media persons here on Wednesday, councillor Shad Nawaz, Ali Shah, Saeedullah and Noor Mohammad claimed that Pakhtun labourers were not being allowed to work in AJK though they had valid work permits.

They demanded of the federal government to raise the issue with the AJK government and resolve the issue.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2017