KOHAT: Scores of women of College Town here on Wednesday blocked the Rawalpindi highway in protest against gas loadshedding and low pressure continuing for the last seven months despite their complaints.

They came out of their houses and blocked the road to traffic at 9am. They said that the local councillor and SNGPL officials were making false promises with them to solve the problem. Some of the residents claimed that the SNGPL staf f had slowed down the pressure intentionally to their area to divert the gas supply to other parts.

District councillor Dr Matiullah said that the area witnessed mushroom growth of population and at the beginning a decade ago the politicians provided it with gas to gain political mileage. He said that at that time the SNGPL laid a narrow gauge pipe which had now become insufficient to provide gas with pressure to the growing population. He said that from the same low gauge pipeline gas had been provided to Jarma, Tappi, Miangan Colony, Surgul etc which had put additional load on it. When contacted, additional assistant commissioner Samiullah said SNGPL had agreed to resolve the problem soon.

BAD SANITATION: A large number of residents of new and old colonies on Bannu Road near Ayub Chowk have appealed to the cantonment board authorities to improve the sanitation conditions and construct water channels in the area as rains have been playing havoc with their belongings.

They said that during rains their lawns and living rooms turned into swimming pools destroying furniture and carpets in their houses constructed with their lifelong savings outside the congested city in cantonment in open area.

In a statement, the elders of local social organisation, Zahid Hussain Inqilabi and Manzoor Butt, said that the water entered their homes during rains because the main drains were not levelled properly in the streets, especially in street No 7 and the water reversed instead of proper drainage.

The drain behind Ayub Chowk was on ground level and the water spelled out of it, especially during rains. Heaps of garbage could be seen in the area.

Mr Butt said that on complaint the TMA referred them to cantonment board, which collected tax in the area. He said a dispute over jurisdiction was going on for decades between the two organisations. They urged the newly-appointed chief executive of the cantonment board to take steps for resolution of their problems.