Mismanagement mars flour distribution in KP

HANGU/DERA ISMAIL KHAN/BATKHELA: Mismanagement marred the distribution of the free flour in various parts of the KP which witnessed the looting of the flour trucks and scuffles, leaving several people wounded.

The station house officer of the Mushti Police Station sustained injuries when people pelted stones following the police aerial firing after a stampede at a free flour distribution point due to a heavy rush of people in Mushti Mela Bazaar in central part of Orakzai tribal district.

District Police Officer Nazir Khan said that they were compelled to fire shots in the air to disperse the people, who had come to receive free flour in the Mushti Mela Bazaar point.

He said that there was a melee when a large number of people gathered at the distribution and everyone tried to get the bags of free flour. He alleged that a man opened fire on the cops, who also fired warning shots to disperse the people. He said the police had arrested the accused.

The enraged people later blocked the main road and threw stones at the local police station in which the SHO was injured. The people complained that only one point had been established in Mushti Mela Bazaar for the distribution of free flour bags where a large number of people had gathered.

In Dera Ismail Khan, the enraged people pelted the staff of Food Department with stones and looted three trucks loaded with flour bags in Darazinda and Kulachi areas after the link of Apps of the free flour distribution system was disrupted.

The government had sanctioned six trucks loaded with 10 kg free flour bags for Darazinda and Kulachi for distribution among deserving people. The people got infuriated when the link of Apps of the free flour distribution system was disrupted from 10:30 am to 12 noon.

The distribution process was going under District Food Controller Nazir-ur-Rahman and Food Inspector Jamil Khan Marwat when all of a sudden the link of apps stopped working after the system went down.

This angered the people, who started stoning the staff of the Food Department and others and looted the flour bags. The people looted one truck of flour bags in Darazinda and two in Kulachi while the police saved three trucks of flour bags from looting.

After the incident, the Food Department asked the district administration and police to provide more security to the staff so the distribution could take place in a peaceful manner. In Malakand, five persons, including Levies personnel sustained injuries in clashes between the Levies force and people after mismanagement at the free flour distribution point in Jahazono Dag in the Sakhakot area near here.

The sources said that the distribution of free flour bags was going on when the people started complaining that they were not being given free flour. The people, including men and women, gathered on the main road and blocked it for vehicular traffic.

Soon after the incident, the Dargai assistant commissioner along with other official Levies personnel rushed to the spot and held several rounds of talks with the protesters but that yielded no results. Later, the Levies personnel baton-charged the protesters and fired shots in the air. The personnel also fired tear gas to open the road for traffic.