KARAK: Elders of remote Koh-i-Maidan area of Karak district have linked their participation in the upcoming anti-polio campaigns with construction of a road to the locality.

Speaking at a meeting here on Monday with a local elder, Mubarak Shah in the chair, they said they were facing hardships due to absence of road.

They said work on a small dam being built on a ‘dirt track’ leading to their village would be stopped if the locality was linked with a road.

The elders also complained that the village was yet to be electrified and people faced water shortage. They said the only one boys primary school was without the sanctioned number of teachers, and demanded its upgradation to middle level. They said the elected representatives did not visit the backward area after winning the elections.

In a separate development, the growers of Karak tehsil have asked the government to provide them with incentives to grow forests in Chountra area to help reduce threat of floods and make them financially sound.

The demand came at a meeting of the farmers’ association on Monday with its president Iqbal Khattak in the chair.

The participants said Chountra had thousands of acres of barren land which could be used to increase forest cover and the farmers’ incomes.

They complained the forest department did not focus on growing forests in Channikhel, Kanodkhel, Deli Mela, Dhand Eidalkhel areas. They said the farmers were ready to donate their lands to the department for the purpose.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2021