KOHAT, Aug 4: Kohat division enjoys a special place among southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for being headquarters of three districts and three tribal areas, but still people in its city areas have been facing problems as basic as provision of drinking water and electricity.

Besides majority of past governors the incumbent Governor Barrister Masood Kausar also hails from Kohat, but even then its residents have been facing basic problems, which could be resolved easily on verbal orders of people at the helm.

The residents of Garden Colony, situated in centre of the city, have been complaining of water shortage for several years. Now pipeline of a big gauge has been laid in the area with the funds of MNA Pir Dilawar Shah to increase pressure of water, but the tube well operator opens and shuts the supply at his will and the problem still persists.

The residents have been urging him to release water as soon as electricity supply is restored, but all their appeals are being ignored.

Similarly, many other colonies located at some height in the city are deprived of water for last many days. As such the people have been left at the mercy of tanker mafia.

It has been learnt that tehsil municipal administration provides water through its tanker service free of cost to influential people living in cantonment area, but charging hefty amount of money from people of the city.

During a survey by this correspondent it was noted that in case of damage to a transformer due to fluctuating voltage, the Pesco employees charge between Rs9,000 and Rs20,000 from the residents of the particular area to get it repaired from a local mechanic. The residents allege that these employees spend half the amount on repair and distribute the other half among themselves.