The joint opposition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly on Wednesday staged a walkout from the provincial assembly to express solidarity with a member provincial assembly (MPA) protesting against the non-completion of a bridge in Upper Dir.
Jamaat-e-Islami MPA Mohammad Ali from Upper Dir took the floor on an adjournment motion against the reconstruction of a bridge destroyed in the flood of 2010 in Pathrak (Maidan).
He said that 80 per cent work on the bridge was already completed by the previous government. The remaining 20 per cent work could not be completed so far by the present government. He said that the delay in the completion is taking the lives of the people. He, especially, mentioned an incident of May 3 in which a person lost his life.
The JI legislator said that no development work is going in the province. He said that the recent heavy rains had turned his constituency into a death cell and attributed the death of the child into a murder. Criticising the pace of development work in KP, he said that the construction of such bridges take only five days in Punjab.
There is no democratic government and the affairs are actually run by the bureaucracy, he said.
JI parliamentary leader Inayatullah Khan admitted the negligence of the department. He said that Communication and Works (C&W) and Executive Engineer (EXN) secretary will be summoned to prepare a time-frame for the construction of the bridge.
The efforts of Inayatullah, however, failed to pacify the angry legislator.
MPA Reshad Khan from Shangla said that rains and flood have played havoc in his constituency and the buildings of schools and hospitals have been damaged. He said that the natural disaster has damaged houses and the people are still waiting for compensation.
Adviser to chief minister on C&W, Akbar Ayub assured that the bridge will be constructed within six months if funds. He said that procurement has been started but tendering process will take time.
The JI MPA still insisted to set a timeframe for the construction of the bridge.
The opposition joined the protest of the JI legislator and they started chanting the slogans of shame-shame which created ruckus in the house.
Meanwhile, advisor to CM on C&W assured that the bridge will be constructed within three months.
Deputy Speaker Dr Meher Taj Roghani formed a two-member delegation comprising senior minister Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao and special assistant on information Mushtaq Ghani for bringing the opposition back to the house.
Later, both joint opposition and the JI legislator ended their boycott and returned to join the proceedings of the house.