KOHAT: Dozens of handcarts were seized and then destroyed by the tehsil municipal administration staff during an anti-encroachment operation on the Jail Road here on Sunday.

Tehsil officer revenue Mr Waqas told reporters that the seized handcarts were later broken. He said that the handcart owners had been asked several times in the past to remove handcarts on their own or face action.

Mr Waqas said that he also took a round of several bazaars and ordered the TMA staff to remove illegal structures which had sprung up after the last anti-encroachment operation.

Local elders demanded that the operation should also be conducted in other bazaars of the Kohat city where vendors had occupied the roads, causing permanent nuisance to pedestrians.

The municipal official said that the administration would send businessmen to prison if they didn’t pay heed to warnings to remove encroachments on their own.

Meanwhile, assistant commissioner, Farrukh Atique, and extra assistant commissioner, Naveed Ahmed, visited the jail road and collected identity cards from traders to be returned to them on removal of encroachments in front of their shops.

BRIDGE WASHED AWAY: An under-construction bridge at Shahpar was washed away after water was released into the canal from the Tandaa dam. The bridge was the only link between dozens of villages and the Kohat city.

The contractor blamed the irrigation department for the releasing the water without informing him as a result the under-construction structure was washed away.

Sources said the water was deliberately released into the canal as there was no need of water at this time of the year especially when the wheat crop had already been harvested.

TWO ARRESTED: Two people were arrested for minting money from people on the pretext of sending them to Australia.

An official of Saddar police said Saadullah and his partner, Mohammad Qureshi, had taken money from Khalid and Saifullah for giving visas for Australia. But after passage of many months they didn’t get visas and approached the police.

The victims told police that they were also handed a cheque of Rs750,000 by the accused, but it also turned out to be fake.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2014