KOHAT, July 30: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Housing Amjad Afridi has appealed to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to accept the demands presented by his brother Senator Abbas Afridi in his welcome address on the occasion of opening of work on Khushalgarh Bridge on Thursday last.

Speaking at a press conference here on Saturday, Mr Amjad alleged that all his efforts to get approval of the demands and host a lunch for the prime minister at his place were spoiled by Awami National Party MNA Dilawar Shah.

“The lack of any outcome of the PM's visit in the shape of acceptance of demands and the expected announcement of construction of an oil refinery in the oil-rich region has disappointed the people of Kohat,” he said.

The minister said that the PPP and ANP, which were coalition partners, should collectively work for the uplift of underdeveloped areas of the province.

He said that Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti had approved Rs70 million for the construction of Sheikh Allahdad Bridge. The Shiekh Alllahdad road connects the southern areas with Nowshera as an alternative route to Peshawar in case of closure of the Kohat tunnel.

He said that the chief minister had promised to release money for the construction of a girls' degree college in Bilitang on the Rawalpindi road and ensuring provision of gas facility to the deprived areas.

He said that in the first phase gas would be provided to Ghulam Banda, Babri Banda, Razgir Banda and Bilitang and work on the project would start in the next few days.

The minister counted the development projects initiated with his efforts to hide the inability to get any project approved from the prime minister during his visit.

It may be recalled that the demands made by the MNA and the housing minister in two different welcome addresses did not get any response from the prime minister at Khushalgarh.

The function of groundbreaking ceremony of Khushalgarh Bridge was marred by confusion due to rivalry between the ANP MNA, the provincial minister and local PPP leadership. They rivalry erupted among them, as each one wanted to invite the PM for a lunch and public gathering at his respective place, but none of them succeeded to arrange a function for Mr Gilani in Kohat, about 50 kilometres from Khshalgarh bridge.

Sources said that the original programme for the PM's visit was planned by the housing minister at his farmhouse and he had distributed invitation cards to the guests in Kohat city, but the MNA jumped into the fray and told the provincial minister that the prime minister would hold a public gathering at his hujra since he represented the federal government.

However, both the rival leaders presented different welcome addresses containing their own demands for Kohat district, which confused the prime minister, governor and the federal minister for communication Arbab Alamgir, who spoke on the occasion.