KOHAT: The continued refusal of occupants of the commercial property of tehsil municipal administration (TMA), Kohat, to pay the revised shop rents has been causing losses of millions of rupees to the civic body for the last few years.

An official of TMA, Mohammad Imtiaz, told this correspondent that the raise was allowed by a special committee of the provincial assembly so that the civic bodies could meet their expenses, pay salaries on time and also provide facilities to the public.

He said that the rent of a TMA shop in the open market was between Rs20,000 to Rs30,000 depending on the location, whereas the occupants, who had got the property on lease, were paying much less than that. He said that most of them had sublet their shops to others on four to five times high rates in violation of rules.

“Our hands are tied because in the past the shops have been given on lease for 40 years, 80 years and 100 years that is why the case has been filed against the raise in the court by the shop owners in 2011 though the assembly had allowed a certain raise,” said Mr Imtiaz.

“The rent of each shop has been raised by Rs25,00 on average keeping in view the market value, but the occupants are reluctant to pay the revised rates and terming it illegal,” he said.

However, the property holders claimed that the provincial government had granted permission to TMAs for only 17 per cent increase, but the Kohat TMA had raised it by 200 per cent.

They said that under the law the government could increase the rent by only 10 per cent a year, but the TMA had raised the price to the extent which was not only illegal but also an injustice with them.

MEAT SEIZED: The KDA police seized eight drums full of unhygienic meat and arrested three carriers involved in the business on Sunday.

A police spokesman said that the meat was being transported from Peshawar for selling it to the restaurants in Kohat. He said that they stopped a van (UU-7446) on the Indus Highway and on checking found mutton and beef stuffed into eight drums.

The official said that a doctor of the food department was summoned who checked the meat and declared it harmful for human consumption. Those arrested include an Afghan refugee Matiullah, a resident of Ghamkol camp, Kohat; Abdul Kareem of Qaziabad, Peshawar; and Ijaz of Mohmand Agency. The accused were booked under 3/6 Food Act.

DENGUE PATIENTS: The number of dengue patients detected so far reached 106 with the admission of four new affected persons in the KDA hospital on Sunday.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2015

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