PESHAWAR, May 10: Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has said the Mardan-Swat-Kalam road will be built in the shortest possible time.

He was responding to a point of order about construction of various roads in the province, raised by MPA Mohammad Amin at a session of the NWFP Assembly on Wednesday.

The chief minister said he had asked the National Highways Authority to start spadework on certain roads in summer because it would be difficult to do it in winter.

MPA Amin from Swat had told the assembly that MPA Amirzada Khan from Kalam had boycotted proceedings of the session in protest against non-construction of the Swat-Kalam Road.

Mr Durrani said MPA Amirzada Khan was his colleague and he would redress his grievances.

The chief minister said the NHA would construct a double carriageway from Hasanabad to Mansehra. He said two underpasses, one in Haripur and the other in Abbottabad, would also be constructed to ensure smooth flow of traffic in the two cities. He said the NHA would also construct the Gambeela-Dera Ismail Khan road with an underpass in D. I. Khan.

The provincial assembly referred two identical adjournment motions on irregularities in transfers and postings in the education department to the relevant committee of the house to hold an inquiry into the matter.

Jamshed Ahmad Khan and Makhdoom Mureed Kazim of the Pakistan People’s Party (Sherpao) in their adjournment motions said despite a ban on fresh postings and transfers in the department, teachers were being transferred to remote areas.

They said the government was bound to implement its orders regarding the ban on postings and transfers. They demanded that the government should implement its decisions, otherwise the system would collapse.

They stressed that after the death of a teacher, his/her son/daughter should be appointed against the post according to departmental practice. They regretted that the government was not paying any heed to the teachers’ demand and was not ensuring teachers’ quota.

Pir Mohammad Khan of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal said when he asked an EDO, education, about the appointment procedure on the deceased’s quota, he did not know about it.

He said the government should implement the ban on postings and transfers in the province.

Qazi Mohammad Asad Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League said the district nazim of Haripur had refused to accept any relaxation in ban on postings and transfers made by the chief minister. He asked the law minister to explain whether the nazim could turn down an order of the chief minister.

Minister for Law Zafar Azam said district nazims were bound to accept orders of the chief minister being the chief executive of the province. Under the Local Government Ordinance, he said, the chief minister could take action against the district nazim.

Despite opposition by the law minister, the chair referred the adjournment motions to the relevant standing committee to resolve the issue.

Concluding the debate on post-earthquake arrangements and relief efforts, Minister for Local Government Sardar Idrees said the government had distributed Rs9.009 billion among affected people living in tents. He said Rs1.9 billion had been given to families whose more than one member had died in the quake.

He said the federal government would provide Rs10 billion for construction of 600,000 houses in the affected region.

In the second-phase, he said, the NWFP government would distribute Rs251 million among 2,100 affected people.

He said the government had released Rs18 billion for the education sector and Rs1.5 billion for water supply schemes. He said the UN had also set up a fund of $280 million to give loans to people for small enterprises.

The session was adjourned till Thursday.

WAPDA HOSPITAL: Water and Power Development Authority chairman Tariq Hamid will inaugurate the Wapda hospital here on Thursday, said a press release, APP adds.