GUJRAT, Dec 30: Leaguers of almost all the 117 union councils of the district seem 'perturbed' over the non-provision of transport to carry the party activists to the Nat House, the site where General Pervez Musharraf is scheduled to arrive on Jan 1 (tomorrow).

President Musharraf who was earlier scheduled to arrive here on Dec 31 will now come on Jan 1. Preparations to accord the president a warm welcome are under way during the last two weeks while MNA Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain is supervising arrangements in this regard.

The entire government machinery is engaged in the arrangements. Almost 40,000 chairs had been placed on the site. Sources said Chaudhry Wajahat had asked the local PML leaders to bring around 500 people from every union council to the Nat House.

He had also provided funds to some close party leaders for bringing people to Gujrat. Former MNA Syed Manzoor Hussain Shah and former district Naib Nazim Syed Noorul Hasan Shah will lead a caravan of almost 10,000 people from Lalamusa to the city.

MPAs Abdullah Yousaf, Khalid Asghar Ghurral and former Jalalpur Jattan MC chairman Babar Saleem Khokhar will carry the people from Jalalpur Jattan, Tanda and Karrianwala to the site.

Gujrat tehsil Nazim Chaudhry Saadat Nawaz Ajnala and his deputy Mian Haroon Masood will carry the people from Gujrat and Kunjah to the venue. MNA Rahman Naseer Marala, MPAs Amir Usman, Chaudhry Arshad, adviser to the CM Naeem Raza and Sara-i-Alamgir tehsil Nazim Chaudhry Abdul Rahman will bring people of Kharian, Kakrali, Kotla Arab Ali Khan and Sara-i-Alamgir to the site.

District Naib Nazim Mian Arshad Hayat, former acting chief minister Mian Afzal Hayat and ex-provincial minister Mian Tariq will carry the people from Dinga and Kharian to the city.

The PML sources told Dawn on the condition of anonymity that almost all the caravan leaders had demanded transport from the Gujrat PML leaders who had been provided with funds by Mr Wajahat.

Requesting anonymity, several party leaders and workers told this correspondent that the Chaudhrys had always provided funds to their close men for transport on such events but such people had always defied their 'duty' and allegedly embezzled the money.

This time expectations from them were the same, they said. They demanded of Chaudhry Wajahat to direct his close men to do their duty with responsibility and provide the transport in time otherwise they will stay at home.

ANNOUNCEMENT: The leaguers have been guessing and expecting some important announcement by the president of Pakistan and the PML chief on the occasion. A chat with leaguers suggested that the Chaudhrys would nominate General Pervez Musharraf the new PML chief. They were also expecting a major development package for the district.