SWABI: Suspension of traffic on Swabi-Topi road for over four hours due to breakdown of an oil tanker on the Kotha causeway here on Sunday inconvenienced the commuters, particularly the industrialists of Gadoon Amazai Industrial Estate.

The vehicular traffic on Swabi-Topi and Kotha-Topi roads has been diverted to Kotha causeway after a portion of Topi Bridge collapsed during monsoon rains. After the incident Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar had pledged to reconstruct the bridge soon, but to no avail.

Traders said that there was always great rush over the causeway and usually traffic remained jammed because all the heavy trucks and loaded vehicles passed through it.

The oil tanker taking oil for Tarbela Dam’s fourth extension project broke down in the middle of the causeway, suspending traffic from entire Topi tehsil and Swabi side.

People stranded on both sides of the road castigated the provincial government for failure to reconstruct the Topi Bridge on emergency basis.

The traffic finally resumed after the oil tanker was pushed to one side through heavy machinery.

KILLED ON ROAD: A man was killed when his motorcycle collided with a tonga in Marghuz Bazaar here on Sunday, said police.

The victim Dr Waqar Ahmad, who works in Gadoon Estate, hailed from Kotha village.

He was taken to Bacha Khan Medical Complex Shahmansoor in serious condition, but doctors pronounced him dead.

CHARAS SEIZED: The district police seized eight kilogrammes of charas and arrested three smugglers in two different incidents on Sunday.

Officials said a passenger coach was stopped near Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway by Chota Lahor police and during search they recovered six kg charas from its different sections.

Police arrested Aurangzeb of Ismaila village, and Sher Nawaz from Swat.

In the second incident, a car was stopped at Shaheed Baba checkpost and police recovered two kg charas from it. Police arrested an alleged smuggler, Nur Habib, who belongs to Mardan.

FIRs have been registered against the three smugglers in Topi and Chota Lahor police stations.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2016