MANSEHRA: The Upper Kohistan district administration has started demolishing the over 150 houses and other buildings that hampered the smooth execution of the Dasu hydropower project.

“We have started demolishing the buildings on the left side of the Indus River, and soon others would be razed to ensure the smooth execution of this mega energy project,” Upper Kohistan deputy commissioner Tariq Ali Khan told reporters on Saturday.

Hazara division commissioner Fayaz Ali Shah had constituted a coordination committee earlier this week led by the deputy commissioner to ensure the demolition of these buildings.

“Following the launch of this operation, not a single building or house exists on the left side of the Indus River,” Mr Khan said.

The DC said the district administration had beefed up security before launching the operation.

He said the owners had already received compensation for the land, houses and even trees, but were still reluctant to vacate the properties.

VACCINATION: The Education Forum, a representative body of private educational institutions, has reacted to the sealing of one of its member schools, saying if parents were unwilling to administer the measles-rubella vaccine to their children, how the schools’ management could force them to do so.

“We are ready to extend support to health teams, but we cannot force the parents to allow schools to vaccinate their children against measles-rubella,” Naseem Khan Swati, the forum’s president, told reporters on Saturday.

He said most parents of students aged six years or below didn’t allow educational institutions to get their children vaccinated during the ongoing fortnightly measles-rubella vaccination drive (Nov 17-29).

“We have shared permission forms with parents of around 50 such students, and only five of them allowed my school to administer the vaccine, the rest plainly refused,” Mr Swati said.

He said the district administration, in its pre-campaign sessions, didn’t take the schools’ bodies on board, which was also one of the setbacks to the campaign.

The additional assistant commissioner, along with a team, sealed a private college over its management’s alleged refusal to children’s vaccination.

Meanwhile, deputy commissioner Mian Behzad Adil held a meeting with the private schools’ representatives seeking their support in administering the vaccine to schoolchildren.

Private Schools Regulatory Authority, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had directed the principals of all private schools to get children of six years and below vaccinated against measles and rubella.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2025