KOHAT: The employees of Water and Sanitation Services Company (WSSC) ended their strike on Friday following payment of two-month salary.

A decision to pay salary to the striking workers was made at a meeting attended by chief executive officer of WSSC Arif, tehsil municipal officer Mohammad Shoeb, president of WSSC employees’ union Mohammad Sohail and city mayor Qari Sher Zaman.

At a presser on Thursday, Mr Zaman had warned to take over the operations of the company, wind it up and send its staff back to the TMA because the organisation had become a white elephant. He had termed the 2016 agreement between the TMA and WSSC as surprising.

Under the agreement, the TMA employees worked under WSSC, but their salaries and pensions were paid by their parent organisation.

Meanwhile, president of WSSC employees’ union Mohammad Sohail said that the payments had been made possible after the workers had brought the water supply to a grinding halt. He said that the workers had been demanding lump sum payment of withheld salary of three months.

GANG BUSTED: The Hangu police busted a four-member gang of motorcycle thieves and recovered five stolen bikes on Friday.

District police officer Nisar Ahmed Khan, taking notice of the increasing public complaints, had ordered city police SHO Fayyaz Khan to arrest the bike thieves.

A team led by the SHO and DSP Falak Nawaz carried out raids at targeted houses, and arrested two criminals, Mohammad Faraz and Abdul Wahab. The arrested men then guided the police to their two other accomplices, Hazrat Ali, and Asad Rehman, who were also taken into custody. The police also recovered five motorcycles from two different places.

DPO Nisar Ahmed asked the police to advertise the chassis and engine numbers of the motorcycles, so they could be handed over to their real owners.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2024