KOHAT: The Kohat Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) has suggested that the country can save precious foreign exchange by encouraging establishment of value-added guava juice factories, which is a specialty of Kohat, in the small industrial estate here.

KCCI senior vice president Mohammad Shahid told mediapersons here on Wednesday that the government had to step in because guava orchards were diminishing fast. He said peach of Kohat division was also famous for its juicy texture and taste, adding the country’s future depended on industrialisation.

Mr Shahid said famous guava delicacy of Kohat and vegetable production was suffering badly due to booming property business which had made the establishment of small industries indispensable in the industrial zone where plots were available at much cheaper rates.

He said the owners were converting their guava orchards into shopping plazas and colonies for easy income because guava orchard gave fruit after eight years and required a lot of effort in plucking, packing and export to other districts and provinces.

He stressed that these fruits and vegetables could easily be preserved with modern technology for which only little government support was required.

The KCCI senior vice president also said the Kohat district was mainly a mountainous region with rich gypsum deposits, therefore, another cement factory was needed to generate more jobs.

Similarly, he said the district had three spinning mills which produced international quality of yarn, but after their establishment in 1960 no serious effort had been made to expand the industry.

A unit, which exported best quality towels and cotton, stopped production after suffering losses, he pointed out.

He said the locals produced white hand-woven woolen chaddars (shawls) famous for their quality and warmth which were sold for Rs15,000 a piece. “If the experienced people are encouraged to establish looms in the industrial estate the production could increase and the shawls could be exported to Europe.

He said KCCI was striving to create awareness among the business community to turn towards industries because they could multiply their income by producing value-added items.

CAR BATTERY THIEVES HELD: The police busted a four-member gang of car battery thieves, including its leader, in raids in Kohat and Bannu districts, and seized 40 batteries on Wednesday.

District police officer, taking notice of battery thefts from shops tasked ASP Mohammad Nabeel Khokhar with arresting the culprits.

Mr Khokhar along with a team of Jarma police traced the gang leader, Aftab Nawaz who, during interrogation disclosed the names of three other members who were arrested from Bannu. They were identified as Sher Zaman, Mir Ajab and Taj Mohammad.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2019