Section 144 imposed on supply of ice outside Bannu district

Ice factories were supplying majority of the ice to N Waziristan, price shot up from Rs80 to Rs400 per block.

BANNU: The district government has imposed Section 144 and banned the supply of ice outside of the district it said in a notification issued on Tuesday.

The ban was imposed by the Bannu District Coordination Officer (DCO) Atifur Rahman, who explained that the ban has been imposed on supply of ice for 30 days owing to a shortage in the area. He added that those found violating the ban would be dealt with under Section 188.

Locals have appreciated the move as they were facing shortage of ice in the prevailing scorching heat coupled with prolonged power outages.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Karim Khan, a resident of Bannu said that that before Ramazan, the price of an ice block was Rs80 which had shot up to Rs400 per block, adding that people have to wait in long queues to get ice since their refrigerators did not function with frequent and prolonged power outages coupled with fluctuations.

Khan said that before the ban, ice factories in the district were supplying majority of their product to the North Waziristan Agency since the tribal area lacked ice factories of its own.

He added that prices would hopefully decline after the ban.