KOHAT: As part of the plan to give a facelift to Kohat city the construction of big gates on Rawalpindi road, Bannu road and Hangu road has been started. The project approved by the district administration is part of the Rs1 billion Kohat beautification plan.

The gates have been designed by head of the fine arts department, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Liaquat Ali Khan. The gates would also have structures like minarets.

Under the plan, the 150-year-old Company Bagh is also being renovated at a cost of Rs450 million. Its stage from where speeches were made during the Pakistan Movement and old trees had been preserved to keep its historical nature intact.

The tehsil municipal administration (TMA) has also decided to reconstruct all the 12 iron gates, which were part of the old walled city.

“The site of the old Kohat jail is suitable for a park, but the government is just making space for commercial plazas,” said former president of Kohat Chamber of Commerce and Industry Manzoor Ahmed.

Local people said that TMA was going on rampage to remove historical places and create space for new plazas to generate additional income.

Sources said that Durrani graveyard of the rulers of Kohat, who ruled the region from Kurram Agency up to Punjab, especially the tombs of the king and queen of Kohat, also needed to be preserved.

They said the archaeology department had erected a board that it was government property without constructing a boundary wall to protect it from thieves.

RPO CHAIRS MEETING: Regional police officer Shaukat Hayat Gandapur has said that young officials will be provided a chance to prove their abilities as station house officers and change the old ‘thana culture’.

“My top priority will be to get rid of police mafia working for decades in the same district and police stations and protecting unwanted people,” he told participants of a meeting, according to a statement issued here the other day.

The meeting was attended by presidents of bazaar unions, including central president of businessmen action committee Haji Abid, Riaz Sheikh, Mohammad Abid, Israr Shinwari, Sher Khan, Azmat Jamil and retired Justice Ibne Ali.

The RPO pledged that the curse of corruption and drugs along with other crimes would be eliminated from the region.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2016