KOHAT: PML-N’s former state minister Abbas Khan Afridi said here on Friday that the groundwork for resumption of the railcar service between Kohat and Rawalpindi had been completed with a cost of Rs502 million and it would start from September 14.

He said that a computerised facility of advance booking for Karachi would be available at the Kohat railway station which would rid the people of going to Peshawar for buying tickets.

The service was abandoned in May 2013.

Now, the track between Kohat and Jand has been repaired and the station renovated.

In a statement issued here on Friday, Mr Afridi said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif during his visit to Kohat last year had announced various projects for which tenders had been launched.

He said that classes of the women’s university would be started soon in a hired building in a month or two for which the federal government had allocated Rs500 million.

Mr Afridi alleged that the PTI-led provincial government was creating hurdles to the construction of 250-bed hospital by the federal government.

He said that tenders had been floated for construction and widening of the Kohat-Jand and Pindigheb highway.

He said that Rs300 million would be spent on the provision of electricity in the deprived areas of the district.

SUSPECTS HELD: The police arrested 67Afghan suspects during an operation in three refugee camps here on Friday.

A police statement said that the operation was conducted in the refugee camps on the basis of intelligence reports to curb crimes in the area.

During the operation, documents of refugees were also checked with the mobile information technology.

The police also recovered one Kalashnikov, two rifles and six pistols. The suspects were shifted to the Junglekhel police station where they were being interrogated.

Similarly, an Afghan national was held with the help of CCTV footage for stealing a motorcycle of a watchman of local college a few days ago.

He was arrested from his home in Hafizabad and presented in the court which remanded him to physical custody of police for further investigation.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2017