KOHAT: Hundreds of wholesale dealers of the government fruit and vegetable market have demanded closure of the privately-run facility functioning without obtaining no objection certificate from the district administration, thus causing them huge losses.

Talking to Dawn here on Saturday, Fayyaz Afridi, president of the government wholesale dealers’ association, said the private market had been allowed to function on the pretext that its owner had submitted an application for obtaining NOC. He claimed that they had been given this justification for a decade.

Mr Afridi said under the law two markets were not allowed in a district.

He also demanded proper levelling of the ground at the government fruit market and setting up of a police checkpost.

PICK AND DROP SERVICE: The social welfare department and the Panagah Welfare Board on Saturday started a pick and drop service from the KDA Teaching Hospital to the Panagah for the homeless people.

The hospital’s medical superintendent Nasir Afridi, and member of Panagah Welfare Board, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Saleem Altaf, and assistant director Pakistan Baitul Mal, Kohat, Ghaffar Khan inaugurated the facility.

They also decided to launch an awareness campaign for the homeless people squatting in the empty spaces at the hospital to take full advantage of the service for spending cozy nights and getting free healthy meal at the Panagah.

Earlier, the social welfare department and the Panagah Welfare Board had unanimously agreed upon a mechanism to provide free pick and drop facility to homeless people from the designated spots to the Panagah.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2022