QUETTA, Oct 31: Leader of the opposition in the Balochistan Assembly Kachkol Ali Baloch has claimed that the chief minister had withheld the tenders for development projects advertised for Nov 2, so that the committee formed by the speaker should address the grievances of opposition members regarding the PSDP.

Mr Kachkol told Dawn that opposition members in a recent meeting with Chief Minister Jam Muhammad Yousuf had apprised him of ministers' hesitation to attend meetings to revise the public sector development programme to make necessary adjustments.

According to Kachkol Baloch, opposition members told the chief minister that Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar had convened the meeting of the committee four times to formulate the recommendations of the opposition members, but the ministers concerned were trying to avoid the meetings. The chief minister, he said, had postponed the tenders so that the differences should be discussed at the proposed committee level. Mr Kachkol said Jam Yousuf also assured that not only ministers would attend the meeting, but the chief minister himself would participate in the deliberations.

However, on Saturday night, an official statement confirmed that the chief minister told the opposition members that the government wanted to take all political parties in confidence to strengthen the environment of mutual understandings, but it did not mention the postponement of tenders.

The opposition leader also claimed that the chief minister held out assurance to release the MPAs' funds for development schemes. The remaining five million rupees of MPAs in drought funds sanctioned by the federal government would be released to implement the projects proposed by the opposition members, he added.

Kachkol Ali said the advertisement of tenders for projects was violation of the commitment made with the opposition members during an August's assembly session. They had called off their protest following the formation of the committee by the speaker to redress the grievances of the opposition members on the issues concerned, he added.