Patwari arrested, 5 suspended in Malakand

BATKHELA: Malakand district administration has arrested a settlement patwari and suspended five others over alleged corruption, an official said on Wednesday.

Speaking to journalists, Deputy Commissioner Rehan Gul Khattak said that there the land records does not exist in Malakand district. “There is no fee for land settlement issues but we received a complaint that some patwaris are getting money from people. On one such complaint, we nabbed a settlement patwari and recovered Rs150,000 that he had got from farmers for land settlement,” the official said.

He said that another five settlement patwaris were also suspended in in such cases. He said the district administration has already published public notices, asking people not to pay any amounts for land settlement.

Meanwhile, a forest magistrate fined a coaster driver Rs50,000 over smuggling of the walnut tree bark, locally called Dandasa, from Swat to Punjab.

Sub-Divisional Forest Officer Wasil Khan said that on a tip-off, they arrested driver Fazl-e-Maula and recovered 200kg dandasa from his vehicle.

Later, Forest Magistrate Sohail Ahmed Khan fined the driver Rs50,000 and confiscated the commodity. Locals said the commodity is mixed in tea, which is injurious to health.