KOHAT: The commuters have demanded repair of the old Kohat-Fateh Jang Road.
The road requires regular yearly repairs because of great rush of big and small vehicles on it. The road is also used for transporting goods to Afghanistan.
The badly damaged road causes extreme nuisance to the motorists, especially patients while moving between Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Kohat.
National Highway Authority general manager Jaffar Abbas told Dawn that the dualisation of the old road was under consideration. He said a four-lane road was being constructed between Fateh Jang and Kohat, adding a 108km stretch of the new project lied in Punjab while rest of the 38km in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa running through Khushlagarh along the Indus River. He said the project’s completion period was 2021.
Another official at the project director office (Pindi Gheb-Kohat), Mr Qamar said a plan was underway to repair it for convenience of the commuters.
But other officials said there was no project of repairing the old road and the people would have to wait for the new motorway to complete till 2021 to have a safe and comfortable journey.
BOOKED: The police registered cases against 16 people for not wearing masks while moving in the bazaars despite warnings on Wednesday.
District police officer Masnsoor Aman expressed deep concern that people were not paying any heed to the alarming situation. He asked the people to wear masks and use sanitisers at public places, bus stands, worship places, bazaars, banks and offices.
Meanwhile, Mr Aman has said that eight checkposts have been established in tribal subdivision of Darra Adamkhel to curb criminal activities.
In a statement, he said that the region happened to be a haven for the proclaimed offenders, kidnappers and other criminals but now they were being wiped out.
He vowed to end smuggling of weapons and drugs from the tribal subdivision through effective checking on the Indus Highway on Kohat side of the Friendship tunnel.
He said deployment of police at the posts would pave the way for establishing writ of the government.
He said that every effort was being made to make the area clean from weapons and drugs.
Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2020