KOHAT: The tehsil municipal administration plans to take possession of over 160 shops as their lease period has expired.

These shops are located at lucrative places in different bazaars. The TMA says the shopkeepers pay only Rs500 to Rs2,000 rent, which is much less than the market rate.

The TMA had leased out the shops in 1980.

When contacted, tehsil municipal officer Amin Gul told Dawn that the shops would be retrieved through force as the shopkeepers had refused to vacate them despite several notices having been served to them.

Mr Gul said the market rent of each shop was Rs40,000, adding these shops would be auctioned afresh. He said the old owners could also take part in the fresh auction of shops.

He said after fresh assessment, TMA could earn up to Rs20 million on account of premium and Rs8 million in monthly rent.

TRANSPORT FARES: Secretary Road Transport Authority (RTA) Samiullah Khan on Wednesday warned the public transporters against charging excessive fares from passengers. He issued the directives during visits to bus stands to see whether the transporters were charging extra fares from passengers.

Mr Samiullah asked the drivers to strictly abide by the official fare list.

He also appealed to the passengers to get themselves vaccinated against Covid-19.

GUAVA PRODUCTION ON DECLINE: Director agriculture department Zahirullah Khattak has said guava production is on decline over the last two decades as lucrative real estate business has resulted in construction of shopping plazas and housing societies on the land where once fruit orchards stood.

Talking to Dawn on Wednesday, he said quarters concerned were not interested in saving the drastically disappearing orchards.

He said owners of the remaining orchards were also suffering losses as diseases also affected the fruit production.

Mehfooz Elahi, a former agriculture officer, said guava produce could be enhanced by introducing the disease-resistant seed varieties.

“Urgent measures are required to protect the fast depleting guava orchards, or we will lose this famous delicacy of Kohat,” he cautioned.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2022