KOHAT: The closure of a private fruit and vegetable market on the Peshawar Bypass Road has forced the traders to set up shops along the Hangu Road near the railway crossing, creating traffic jams and causing problems to commuters.

Shehbaz Gul Shinwari, the market owner, said for few years the TMA had no objection to the functioning of the private fruit market as he paid millions of rupees in taxes.

Addressing a news conference at the Kohat Press Club on Friday, he said the TMA had sealed the market in the past, but he had obtained a stay from court, but regretted that the municipal body again sealed the fruit market without any reason. He demanded its immediate reopening.

He alleged that a corrupt mafia within the tehsil municipal administration was behind the closure of the market.

President of private educational institutions association, Kohat, Haroon ur Rasheed had demanded removal of all structures from the bypass road and permanent winding up of the ‘illegal’ private fruit market.

When contacted, tehsil municipal officer Hamid Mansoor told Dawn that under law two markets could not exist in a district. He said the government has spent millions of rupees on such a facility. He said due to the private market the TMA-operated market had flopped.

It may be mentioned here that the owner of the private market is a provincial office-bearer of the PTI and has the backing of an MP and hundreds of businessmen.

MINOR GIRL DIES: A five-year girl died after allegedly falling from a bed in Chakar Kot area on Friday.

The parents took her to the women and children hospital where she was declared dead.

Meanwhile, two women sustained injuries when a motorcycle, a car and a pickup collided on the Bannu Bypass Road. They were taken to the women and children hospital. Later, they were discharged after treatment.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2020