LOWER DIR: A flooded stream in Talash area here on Monday disrupted vehicular traffic on the main Timergara-Peshawar Road for over five hours, causing misery to commuters.

The otherwise dry stream in Kalpani area swelled and water overflowed onto the road after heavy rain during the day.

The traffic police had to divert traffic to the under-construction Kalpani-Talash Bypass Road, which also witnessed a gridlock due to rush.

Hundreds of passengers, including patients, were stranded in Moli Khat, Kalpani and Shamshi Khan Talash areas.

The residents demanded of the government to expedite work on the Kalpani-Talash Bypass Road.

They also demanded construction of suspension bridges on the stream in Kalpani and Shamshi Khan.

Separately, a pen-down strike by the sub-engineers on Monday caused misery to the people visiting the offices.

Imran Takur, divisional general secretary of the government contractors’ association, asked the government to take notice of the sub-engineers’ strike, which had been continuing for the last four days.

Meanwhile, addressing a meeting of sub-engineers in Balambat, their association’s provincial president Eng Malik Bashir Khan alleged that the engineers holding technical degree were being treated unfairly.

He said the Pakistan Engineering Council officials were misbehaving with the sub-engineers.

The sub-engineers threatened to extend the protest to the entire country if their demands were not accepted.

TEENAGER ARRESTED: The police arrested a teenage boy after he killed his business partner on Monday.

An official of Ouch police station said Israf Shah, a resident of Haryana Peshawar, was killed when his business partner, Khairur Rehman, 16, a resident of Ghundai Takhtbai, pulled out a dagger and stabbed him in Gulabad area on Monday.

He said the police had arrested the killer and recovered the dagger used in the crime.

He said both the victim and the accused were partners in a cold drinks business.

The official said both had rented a room in Gulabad.

He said the boy told the police that he killed the Peshawar resident after he tried to assault him the previous night.

The body was dispatched to Peshawar after a postmortem at the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Chakdara.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2021