MANSEHRA: The Tanawal residents have demanded of the chief minister to fulfil his promise to declare their area a tehsil and include it in the government`s tourism development strategy.

`I withdrew from the tehsil council chairman`s election after the CM promised tehsil status for Tanawal but the promise has yet to be fulfilled, former nazim of the Sawan Mera Union Council Waheed Anjum told reporters in Pulrah area on Saturday.

Accompanied by a group of residents, Mr Anjum said the CM hadmade the commitment in the presence of former railway minister Azam Swati after requesting him (Mr Anjum) to withdraw candidature for the council chairman polls in support of the PTI candidate. He warned if the CM didn`t keep his Tanawal tehsil promise, the residents won`t vote for the ruling PTI in next elections.

Meanwhile, MPA and Torghar district development advisory committee chairman Laig Mohammad Khan has claimed that the chairmen-elect of the village and neighbourhood councils were more powerful than tehsil council chairmen.

`The tehsil council chairmen are subordinate to the assistant commissioners and can`t execute development schemes on their own, but you are more independent than them and could execute schemes as and when required,` he told the newly-elected village and neighbourhood council chairmen during a reception in Oghi area on Saturday.

The lawmaker said as the DDAC chairman, he would involve the local body representatives in development exercise and would work for the district without discrimination.

THREE KILLED: Three people lost life in two separate incidents here on Saturday.

A tourist girl slipped into the Siran River as she showed up with her family for recreation. Her elder sister, Laiba Bibi, jumped into the river to rescue her, but she drowned. The body was later recovered by the local divers.

Meanwhile, a resident was killed after falling from a multi-storey commercial plaza on Abbottabad Road in Channia area here.

Witnesses said the deceased, Mohammad Usman, 21, was on thephone when the incident occurred.

Also, a minor girl was run over and killed by a speeding car on the Oghi Road in Khaki area here.

Witnesses said the car hit Zainab, 13, as she was crossing the road and the driver fled. The police registered an FIR and began searchforthe accused.

ROAD CLEARED: The Kaghan Development Authority on Saturday cleared the Mansehra-Naran-Jall(had Road of landslides in Chapran area near Naran, the commercialhubof the valley. The KDA used shovel machines to remove the mass of earth and rock for smooth flow of traffic.

KDA environmental inspector Mohazam Khan said the machinery had been put on standby to handle emergencies. He said the local filling stations had adequate petrol and diesel stocks.