KARAK: The residents of Karak city have complained about the poor performance of tehsil municipal administration about cleanliness in the city and demanded of the authorities to provide all municipal services to the entire city.

They threatened to stop paying monthly water bills to the administration and launch a protest if provision of drinking water, installation of streetlights and cleanliness of the city were not ensured by the TMA.

Addressing a meeting here on Monday, local elders including Malik Sajid, Mustafa Khattak, Malik Naveed and Mohammad Tahir said that the drainage system of the city was in a dilapidated condition.

The drains remained choked with filth which not only caused stink in the city but blocked flow of water. They said that owing to the chocked drains, water entered houses and caused damage to the buildings.

The elders said that the staffers of TMA were not performing their duty. They claimed that the citizens had informed the quarters concerned time and again about the unhygienic environment of the city but no action was taken so far in that regard. They said that owing to the ill-planning of the TMA, stagnant water in the streets was spreading different types of diseases in the city.

Seek municipal services for the residents of the city

The elders said that they were purchasing drinking water at Rs1,500 per tanker. It was an extra burden on the poverty-stricken masses, they added. They alleged that the TMA staff was providing drinking water to influential people only while the rest of the citizens remained deprived of the facility.

They also criticised the TMA for not installing streetlights in the city. The basic duty of TMA was provision of drinking water to people, sanitation of the city and installation of streetlights but none of those services was provided to the residents of Karak, they alleged. They threatened to organise a protest after Eidul Fitr if TMA failed to provide basic facilities to people within week.

Meanwhile, former nazim of Karak tehsil and leader of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl Abdur Rehman Khattak has demanded reconstruction of Karak-Sordag Road.

Talking to journalists here on Monday, he said that the road was repaired by spending Rs4 million some time ago but it was ruined again. He claimed that it was the long standing demand of the people of the area to reconstruct the road as it was main trade route between Karak and Bannu.

“The traders of district Karak use this rout to bring essential commodities of from Bannu but now the road is in a dilapidated condition and can’t be used for travelling to other cities,” Mr Khattak said.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2014