KOHAT: The people of Ghurazai Payan locality here blocked the Rawalpindi Highway on Wednesday to protest authorities’ failure to replace the broken water supply lines to prevent mixing of water with sewage.

Elders, including president of youth welfare committee Ghurazai Ibrar Lahoti, former town nazim Mohammad Anwar, former councillors Abdul Aziz and Liaquat ur Rehman, led the protest.

Speaking on the occasion, they said the rusted pipelines passing through sewerage lines had become obsolete, thus contaminating water. They said water gave bad smell and was unfit for human consumption. They said people were contracting different water-borne diseases.

The protesters lamented that they had asked the authorities concerned to replace the pipelines and remove them from sewers, but to no effect. They also criticised the local lawmakers for ignoring the grave issue.

The protest leaders said oil and gas reserves had been discovered in the area several years ago but the bonus and corporate responsibility funds were not being spent on the people’s welfare.

TWO SHOPS SEALED: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Safety and Halal Food Authority and the livestock department officials in a joint operation in the main bazaar sealed two shops over unhygienic conditions on Wednesday.

Food safety officer Syed Salman gave a three-day time to other food outlets and shopkeepers to follow the cleanliness SOP, or risk sealing of shops.

In a separate development, deputy commissioner Abdur Rehman extended section 144 by another 60 days banning construction on the collective property and state land.

A statement issued on Wednesday said the deputy commissioner had extended the November 2020 ban and stopped constructions and encroachments near the Kohat stream.

The violators of the ban would be tried under section 188 and sent to prison.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2021