HARIPUR: The district administration on Tuesday established a farmers market (Kissan Market) at the ground of the Government Teachers Training School, Haripur.

Former provincial minister Yousuf Ayub Khan inaugurated the market, where over a dozen stalls were established in tents.

Deputy commissioner Nasir Nadeem told participants that the farmers market had been established on the government’s orders to provide relief to both farmers and people.

He said the active role of the middle man (ahrti) had not only caused the loss of the growers’ money but also impacted the end price of agricultural products and thus, burdening the people.

The deputy commissioner said the initiative had brought the role of the middle man to an end once and for all and the farmers won’t directly sell out their vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products to people.

He said the same was being replicated in Ghazi and Khanpur areas, while the district administration would provide farmers with pesticides and fertilisers at factory rate for their encouragement.

Former minister Yousuf Ayub said the district administration would establish separate kissan markets in all three tehsils of Haripur in one month, where only farmers would be allowed to sell produce.

He urged growers to bring dairy products and farm animals to the market.

Meanwhile, senior journalist Arshad Iqbal passed away here after suffering cardiac arrest.

Arshad Iqbal, 56, was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital on Monday night after he complained of severe chest pain, where he breathed his last.

He left behind a widow, two sons and two daughters.

Arshad, the former senior vice-president of Haripur Union of Journalists and the former president of the Khalabat Township Union of Journalists, began his journalistic career around two decades ago and worked as the correspondent of different national and local Urdu dailies.

He was laid to rest in his native village, Alam, where a large number of journalists, lawyers, teachers and former nazims and councillors attended his funeral prayer.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2019