SHANGLA: Residents have demanded of the local administration to launch a rat-culling operation in Aloch, the Puran tehsil headquarters, and its adjacent areas, as rampant rodent infestation is causing inconvenience to them, especially children. Members of Puran welfare committee made the demand during a meeting with tehsil municipal officer Asmatullah Khan. The committee’s president Shahid Ali Khan and general secretary Murad Ali said a large number of big rats appeared in the streets and homes at night, disturbing the residents and destroying food items inside houses and shops. He said the rodents also damaged wooden doors and plastic-made items. Mr Shahid said rats sometime bit schoolchildren in the morning and disappeared during the daytime. He said locals used different pills and substances to kill the rodents, but of no use. Murad Ali told the Puran TMO that the rats were so big that even adults were afraid of them and avoided coming out of their houses after evening. He said initially the rodents were few but now the entire Aloch and its surrounding neighborhoods had been infested with them. TMO Asmatullah assured the committee members that the civic body would launch a rat-culling operation in Aloch and its suburbs while placing toxic pills. He said the culling operation would continue on Thursday and Friday. He urged the people to avoid sending children and livestock out during the operation for their safety.