KOHAT, Nov 18: The federal Minister of State for Water and Power has assured a delegation from Kohat that the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education of Kohat will not be merged with the Peshawar board. District Nazim Seth Gohar told journalists on Friday that he and Tehsil Nazim Dilbar Khan had called on the minister in Peshawar and apprised him of feelings of the area MPs and unrest among people over the merger decision.

He was also informed of the importance and necessity of an educational board in Kohat for a large number of students in three attached districts, two tribal agencies and one frontier region.

He said they told the minister that hundreds of employees of the Kohat board would be rendered jobless if the merger decision was implemented.

The minister, he said, promised to take up the matter with the provincial government and if required talk to the NWFP governor and the president Pervez Musharraf on the situation.

Meanwhile, MPA Syed Qalb e Hassan and MNA Mufti Ibrar Sultan have expressed their concern over the shifting of the Kohat board to Peshawar.