KOHAT, Oct 5: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti distributed allotment letters of plots among hundreds of occupants and owners of Jarma state land here on Wednesday.

The chief minister before addressing a public meeting at commissioner house distributed allotment letters among 758 owners out of total 1001 whose cases had been processed.

Giving briefing on the occasion commissioner Kohat division, Sahibzada Mohammad Anees said that the people had occupied the land after the expiry of lease of Jarma land in 1973.

It was given to Banoori family by the British rulers. But with the passage of time outsiders occupied the land, which later changed many hands. The occupants had built houses on 26,000 kanals of state land out of 35,000 kanals.

The special committee comprising revenue staff, provincial cabinet and local MPAs calculated the cost of the land for allotment to the people between Rs35,000 to Rs131,000 per kanal.

MPA Dr Iqbal Din Fana in his speech thanked the chief minister for allotting land to the people of his constituency.

He demanded of Pesco to either end loadshedding or remove meters from the houses of consumers. He added that roads should be constricted in Jarma and suspended work on the supply of gas to Lachi be resumed.

MNA, Pir Dilawar Shah said that there should at least be one college for boys and one for girls in all the three constituencies of Kohat district. Similarly, KDA divisional hospital, being the only big hospital in the whole region up to Kurram Agency, should be placed in category C.

Provincial minister for housing Amjid Afridi told the chief minister that in the new grid station in KDA town 10 out of 15 transformers had been energised while only 11 feeders were in working condition and the rest of 15 were lying idle.

He also made a request that the Khushalgarh Bridge, which had been restricted for the movement of oil tankers and gas companies' vehicles, should be opened for all kinds of traffic.

The chief minister in his speech said that this year the province would get Rs16 billion as royalty from oil and gas discovered in Kohat and Karak districts, which, he added, would be spent on development schemes.

Replying to the demands made by the parliamentarians, he said that the government was working on a project to launch its own gas company to earn more profit from its resources and it was in consultancy phase.

He said that he would take up the issue of restrictions in the cantonment with the high-ups and hoped that this problem would be resolved.

He directed the concerned department to open the Khushalgarh Bridge for common traffic.