HARIPUR: Obstacles being faced by the farmers due to the lockdown can delay the wheat harvest in rural areas of Haripur district.

Talking to Dawn on Monday, Mohammad Amin, a resident of Nazara Abad village, said they could not get their sickles sharpened as shops of blacksmiths were closed owing to lockdown. Masood Khan, a landowner from Dingi area, said the modern farming had undoubtedly replaced the centuries-old procedures, but despite all these facilities the importance of sickles remained integral part of harvest in the rural areas.

“In hilly and remote areas where machines cannot reach the farmers have to cut their crops using sickles,” he said, adding cutting crops with blunt sickles was not possible.

Masood also pointed out that after harvesting wheat the next process was its threshing, and the cutters of threshers needed annual repair before use.

Sajid Khan, another landowner, said owners of threshing machines were unable to get the cutters sharpened as the welding shops were also closed. He said that the obstacles being faced by the farmers could delay the wheat harvest.

He demanded of the government to exempt the welding and blacksmith shops from the lockdown restrictions.

TWO ARRESTED: The police have arrested two persons for allegedly uploading their pictures in police uniform on Facebook.

SHO Khalabat Township Sajid Nawaz said after the matter surfaced district police officer Syed Ashfaq had ordered inquiry, and during the probe it was found that both the persons were civilians and unlawfully dressed themselves up in police uniform.

The SHO said Arsalan of Khalabat Township and Mohammad Shoaib of Joran Pind village were arrested and booked.

PROTEST THREATENED: The all government employees coordination council, Haripur chapter, has threatened to launch a protest campaign if the additional assistant commissioner did not seek public apology from a Class-IV employee of a school for slapping him.

The decision was made at a meeting chaired by council’s patron-in-chief Khanzada Khan the other day.

Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, Khanzada Khan said additional assistant commissioner Ali Sher Khan called the employee during the process of cash distribution at a school, but he could not listen. However, when he again called him the employee rushed towards the officer who first yelled at him and then slapped him publicly.

Ali Sher was not available for his comments. However, a subordinate official said the officer had apologised for the offence on the spot.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2020