KOHAT: Deputy director livestock, Kohat division, Yar Gul Wazir said on Sunday that shortage of veterinary doctors had been impeding vaccination and checking of Congo virus and bird flu besides routine work at the 24 small and big hospitals.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said that at present there were only three doctors whereas posts of five doctors, five veterinary assistants and one junior clerk were lying vacant for the last several years. He said that this year the department had established dispensaries at Nakband, Mohammadzai and Nadir Banda, but still it had been an uphill task for the staff to look after over 0.6 million goats, cows and buffaloes in the area.

Meanwhile, the tussle between tehsil nazim Taimoor Ali and in-charge of the CM’s complaint cell Faheem Dad Bangash over vacation of office at the tehsil municipal administration has intensified.

Mr Bangash has threatened to hold a protest at the city’s main chowk if his office at the TMA was closed. The nazim, replying to the statement issued by the CM’s cell in-charge, said that it should clear all outstanding bills of rent and electricity and vacate the building.

POWER OUTAGES: People, including women and children, blocked the Bannu bypass and main Bannu road on Sunday to record their protest against the prolonged and unscheduled loadshedding carried out by the Peshawar Electric Supply Company in the rural areas and city.

The protesters raised slogans against Pesco and criticised it for resorting to 15 to 20 hours daily loadshedding in Ramazan. They alleged that the Pesco officials were themselves corrupt and line losses were caused by their collusion with the power thieves.

The people also faced severe water shortage during to the outages. The roads were blocked for several hours. However, the protesters opened the road after MPA Ziaullah Bangash assured them of reduction in loadshedding.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2016