KOHAT: Hundreds of farmers protested here on Monday against the `abrupt end` to the Insaf Food Security Programme by the provincial government.

The chairman of the district standing committee on agriculture, Shah Raza, condemned the cancellation of the programme just after one year of its launch, which was part of the Annual Development Programme. He said the seed programme was ended at the sowing time without any plausible reason.

Talking to Dawn on contact he said the KP government had started the Rs3.6 billion three-year Insaf Food Security Programme in 2015 by setting aside Rs1.20 billion in the last year ADP to benefit more than one million farmers.

Mr Raza said when the farmers gathered at the five distribution points of the district to collect their required quota of seed, they were asked to collect their payments instead.

The farmers had deposited Rs600 as life-time registration fee and Rs500 perbag for the seed two months back.

Mr Raza said the seed could not be used for eating as it was mixed with chemicals and would perish in the stores. He said he was told that the programme had been ended in all the 25 districts of KP.

ONE KILLED ON ROAD: A woman pedestrian was killed and nine passengers were injured in separate accidents occurred on the Indus Highway and Rawalpindi road on Monday.

A speeding car hit a woman named Nek Marjan near Shaheedo Banda, injuring her critically. She died while being taken to hospital. The Jarma police registered case against the driver who managed to flee the scene.

Similarly, a passenger coach going to Bannu from Peshawar was hit by a bus near the Kohat Tunnel toll plaza in which five people were injured who were taken to KDA hospital.

In another incident, a car collided with a passenger coaster coming from opposite direction on Rawalpindi road which left four passengers injured who were also taken to KDA district headquarters hospital.SUSPECTS ARRESTED: The district police arrested 56 suspects, including five proclaimed offenders, and seized huge quantity of arms in a crackdown in dif ferent parts of the district on Monday.

On the directives of DPO Sohaib Ashraf, the police carried out search operations in various parts and apprehended 56 suspects. The proclaimed offenders were identified as Mamoor Khan, Basharat Ali, Junaid Ghzanfar, Iqbal and Imran.

The seizure included five Kalashnikovs, four rifles, three shotguns, 120 pistols, 27 chargers, hundreds of cartridges and eight kilogrammes of hashish.

MAN ROBBED: Unknown robbers looted cash on gunpoint from a manager of a medicine company in posh KDA Town on Monday.

The police said the manager of medicine company was going to deposit Rs425,000 in the bank in a van in KDA when unidentified armed men stopped the vehicle at gunpoint. They looted all thecashandnedthearea.

The manager, Hamayun Khan, later reported the incident to KDA police station. The police registered case and initiate d investigations.