MANSEHRA: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has approved the establishment of a medical college in Mansehra district, said local PTI MPA Babar Saleem Swati on Saturday.

The lawmaker told reporters here that the chief minister had formally directed the health secretary to initiate the process for the establishment of the Mansehra medical college in line with the longstanding demand of the residents.

“Having our own medical college is a dream come true for us [Mansehra people],” he said.

Mr Swati said the chief minister had announced the medical college’s establishment during a visit to Mansehra earlier this year.

“The [medical] college will be established in the abandoned building of an elementary college. The government has earmarked funds for it in the next budget approved by the provincial assembly the other day,” he said.

MPA says funds earmarked in next budget for project

The MPA also said the government was working on different projects to address water shortage in Mansehra city and adjoining areas.

“I am aware of the gravity of water crisis and therefore, I got the gravity flow water supply scheme approved for the city and its suburbs,” he said.

BAN STRUCK DOWN: The Abbottabad Circuit Bench of the Peshawar High Court has struck down the ban on the sale and purchase of land at the site of Manchora dam in Oghi tehsil.

The court directed the district administration to withdraw the 2017 notification for that ban.

The order came over a petition challenging the restriction on the sale and purchase of that land.

Under the plans, the administration is to acquire over 1,500 kanals of land in the tehsil for the water reservoir.

One of the petitioners Ghulam Mohammad told reporters in Oghi on Saturday that the imposition of Section IV of the Land Acquisition Act on 1,500 kanals of land in 2017 was challenged in the court by their owners.

He said Section IV was enforced after the government approved the Manchora dam project to irrigate thousands of kanals of agricultural land in Agror and Tanawal areas of Mansehra district, but the affected landowners got no payment.

Another petitioner, Simreen Gul, complained that the landowners took up the matter with the administration and local lawmakers and even staged rallies, but to no avail.

“We will offer our lands for this irrigation project if the government pays us their market price without delay,” he said.

Meanwhile, the food department has established 68 points across Mansehra district to sell 20kg wheat flour bag at the subsidised rate of Rs890.

“We have initially begun supplying 50 tons of wheat to the local mills to ensure uninterrupted flour supply to special sale points. This wheat quota will be increased gradually,” district food controller Ansar Qayyum told reporters here on Saturday.

He said the market had sufficient flour stocks to meet the local needs.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2022