PESHAWAR, July 10:  The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday ordered the government to complete the repair work in Kohat tunnel till July 31 failing which it should stop collecting toll tax there.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Sajjad Hassan Shah directed the director general of National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to conduct an inquiry into the income generated from the Kohat tunnel during the last four years and submit the report to the court.

The bench ordered if the authorities concerned failed to repair the tunnel till Jul 31 then Kohat commissioner, district coordination officer and district officer revenue should start collecting the toll tax from Aug 1 and deposit the same in a specific account.

The chief justice had taken suo motu notice of the pathetic condition of Kohat tunnel in March 2012 and directed National Highway Authority (NHA) to repair the exhaust and lighting systems inside the around two kilometres long tunnel, which was badly damaged in devastating bombing by militants in Jan last year.The chief justice had taken notice of the issue while hearing several appeals filed by NHA in a civil dispute with some land owners.

Unidentified persons had blown up an explosive laden truck inside the tunnel on Jan 29, 2011. In another incident few years ago militants had entered the tunnel and left it badly affected after carrying out explosions in it.

The chief justice observed that passing through the tunnel had become hazardous and several accidents had taken place.

Moreover, it was observed that it had turned into a health hazard and a source of environmental pollution as it remained filled with smoke causing several diseases to frequent travellers.

The chief justice observed that the government had been earning millions of rupees from the said tunnel but it had not been taking its due care. He added that while people belonging to affluent class passed through the tunnel in their air conditioned vehicles, poor people mostly travelling in public transport faced problems.

The project director of the tunnel, Abdur Raheem Ghandapur, said that so far three of the exhausts had been installed whereas soon rest of the seven would also be installed. He added that lights for the tunnel had been imported and they needed around two months time to install the same.

The bench observed that no more time would be allowed to them. It was added that they should complete the work till Jul 31.