KOHAT: Residents have demanded of the provincial education minister Shahram Khan Tarakai to save the future of their children by ordering construction of the required classrooms in the only boys high school in Laal Garhi area here.

In a joint statement on Sunday, former nazim Etebar Khan, president of Kohat Peace Council Shah Mehmood, and others said no new high school had been sanctioned for the area to accommodate the increasing number of children.

They questioned the government’s education emergency when a high school in their area didn’t even have the needed classrooms for students.

They lamented that when they took their children to the school the staff denied them admission over absence of sufficient space.

Meanwhile, a tussle between the tehsil municipal administration and the irrigation department over who should clean a choked drain in the College Town has become a permanent nuisance for the local residents.

The recent monsoon rains flooded the whole area, including houses and the main road due to the choked drain.

When contacted, Fazal Kareem Khattak, an official of the irrigation department, told Dawn that they had constructed the drain, and now keeping it free of garbage and silt was the responsibility of TMA.

Naeem Kohati, a social worker, said filthy water entered the houses due to the choked drain after the recent rain. He said the main road, which connected 13 streets, was also inundated by sewage making it difficult for the residents to come out of their houses. He demanded of deputy commissioner Mohammad Roshan to order cleaning of the drain.

In a separate development, Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir MNA Shehryar Afridi, DIG Kohat division Zafar Ali and officials of forest department kicked off a monsoon tree plantation campaign on Sunday.

The MNA launched the drive by planting a sapling on the premises of the Kohat University of Science and Technology.

Speaking on the occasion, he urged the students to take responsibility to pass on a healthy environment to future generations.He also asked students to play role in preventing ruthless cutting of forests.

DIG Zafar Ali began the drive by planting a sapling on the lawns of the Kohat Police Club.

Officials of the forest department initiated the campaign from Technical College, Kohat.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd , 2021