KOHAT: The main cattle market of the city, which was generating an annual revenue of about Rs16 million, has been auctioned for Rs14 million, showing a loss of Rs2 million to the government, according to sources.

The bid of the same contractor who had been running the market earlier for years was accepted.

Sources privy to the auction claimed that a ring was formed of the professional bidders who did not give their final bids against one Bashir who offered a bid of Rs14 million for the cattle market located on Bannu Road. They said that the same person had been getting it for Rs16 million for several years.

When contacted, Imtiaz Paracha, a concerned officer of the tehsil municipal administration, said on Wednesday that it was an open auction according to the directives of the local government department.

He said that formation of a ring for such mattes was the modus operandi of the contractors as they decided in advance who should get the contract.

“Now it is up to the secretary local government whether to accept the bid or not because it is causing a loss of Rs2 million to the TMA,” Mr Paracha said. He said that the advertisements for auction of the market had been given in the newspapers four times since May 2017, but nobody offered a bid above the government’s expectations.

He said that now it could be advertised for final time and if nobody offered more than Rs14m then Mr Bashir would be given the cattle market for a year.

TWO KILLED: Two Afghan refugees were killed and eight passengers injured in a road mishap near Kohat prison on Wednesday.

A police statement said that one tyre of a coaster coming from Bannu burst after which it overturned and hit a motorcycle coming from the opposite direction.

As a result, both the motorcyclists, identified as Wazir Khan and Gul Bul Khan of Chechanna refugee camps, were killed and eight passengers wounded. The Jarma police have registered the case.

Meanwhile, Ustarzai police seized 10 kilogrammes of hashish being smuggled into Kohat from Orakzai Agency and arrested an alleged smuggler on Wednesday.

A police team was checking vehicles near Sipah tribal area when they stopped a man, Atiq Ali, carrying a bag. On search, they allegedly found 10kg hashish in the bag.

A case has been registered against him.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2017