MANSEHRA: The local body representatives on Tuesday urged the provincial government to allow their tehsil council to re-impose levies on mineral excavation and transportation.

“The Oghi tehsil council imposed levies on the transportation of minerals excavated from its jurisdiction around four years ago, but the then government withdrew them,” chairman of Shergar village council Ijaz Ahmad told reporters in Oghi tehsil here.

Accompanied by council members, Mr Ahmad said the excavation and transportation of granite and other minerals had severely damaged local water sources, forests and roads.

“Our people are suffering due to extensive granite and mineral excavation, as authorities are reluctant to restore infrastructure,” he said.

The council chairman said the Oghi tehsil was rich in minerals, with dozens of companies engaged in excavation, yet the residents were deprived of royalty payments.

He pointed out that several people recently lost lives on the Shergar-Oghi Road after massive granite rocks being transported from excavation sites fell onto them.

“Some companies have encroached on local forests, destroying trees, flora, and fauna, yet no organised crackdown has been launched against them,” he said.

Mr Ahmad said the previous tehsil government in Oghi imposed levies on the transportation of granite and other minerals to different parts of the country, with the objective of using the generated funds for road repairs and infrastructure development, but the government cancelled them.

“The government should amend the Local Government Act, 2013, to empower tehsil, village, and neighbourhood councils to impose levies on mineral excavation and transportation within their respective jurisdictions and utilise the revenue for the restoration of affected infrastructure,” Mr Ahmad

TWO KILLED: A man and a woman were killed when a car fell into a deep ravine along the Karakoram Highway in Lower Kohistan district on Tuesday.

The incident occured when the driver lost control of the car on the way from Gilgit to Lahore while negotiating a sharp turn on the highway.

The Rescue 1122 personnel retrieved the bodies from the gorge and shifted them to the district headquarters hospital in Pattan. The doctors handed over the bodies to them after completing medico-legal formalities.

“The man’s bio-data has been collected, but the woman has no identification documents on her,” district emergency control officer Sajid Ali Yusufzai told reporters.

The police later named the man as Talha Tahir of Johar Town, Lahore.

“Although we have dispatched both bodies to Lahore, the investigation is still under way to ascertain the woman’s identity and her relationship with the man,” he said.

Meanwhile, a wildfire destroyed a vast area of the Hassanzai Palosa forest in the Torghar district.

Reason for the fire was not immediately known, according to residents. They said they’re doing their best to put out the fire but it was raging due to strong winds.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2025