Taking over territory: MPA Gurchani ‘tears down BHU’ to fence his property

Locals say MPA used construction material from BHU to build wall around his land.

RAJANPUR: Punjab government’s Parliamentary Secretary on Colonies and Consolidation Sardar Sher Ali Khan Gurchani has allegedly demolished a basic health unit (BHU) at the Mari hill Station. Gurchani has also reused all the bricks and other materials of the demolished BHU to erect a boundary wall around his plot.

Mari is the second highest place in south Punjab located at around 4,500 feet above sea level and falls under the Provincial Administered Tribal Area (PATA). Mari is located nearly 90km away from the Rajanpur Indus Highway. The BHU catered to nearly 20,000 people. A Health Department official said that the BHU was constructed in Mari by the Rajanput district government five years ago.

He said that contractors had used substandard material in the construction of the unit which had led to cracks in the foundation. “A wall of the centre collapsed a few months ago and no one bothered to repair the damage,” he said, adding “A couple of weeks ago, Gurchani demolished the entire building without any prior notice. He has been using the bricks and other material in the construction of a boundary wall for his 16 kanal plot adjacent to the BHU.”

“Ten years ago a relative of Gurchani demolished the only primary school in Mari located at Sundha Ziarat. Now he has gotten rid of the only BHU,” he said.

Jameel Pitafi, who lived in the nearby Khalchar village said that the only school teacher in the area, Master Sindhi Baloch, was teaching a handful of students in Ziarat under the open sky. “No one has bothered to reconstruct the school and I am sure no one will bother to reconstruct the BHU either,” he said. Sardar Sher Ali Gurchani refused to comment on the situation, however, his father Sardar Pervaiz Khan Gurchani said that he had constructed the boundary wall on his piece of land, purchasing bricks from a local vendor. Pervaiz Gurchani denied all the allegations. “This is all propaganda against my son by his political rival,” he said. He said that one of his cousins, a former union council nazim was also involved in campaigning against him and his son Sher Ali Gurchani. “The BHU’s building was already broken. Why all the fuss now?” he said. Executive District Officer (Health) Dr Sibghatullah Qureshi said that he would install a tent at the location of the Mari BHU because recently stormy rains had affected the BHU building. “I don’t accept the allegations against Sher Ali Gurchani. The Gurchanis are the Tammans of the area. They can’t demolish public property,” he said. Villagers around Mari protested that the EDO had not even visited the BHU. Qureshi said he had promised to look over the matter personally.

Health Department Director General Muhammad Aslam Chaudhry said “It is extremely worrisome that the MPA elected to take care of these people is reported to have demolished the only BHU.” Dr Muhammad Irfan, who runs a private clinic in Rajanpur, said that the people who lived at Mari and surrounding area had already been neglected by the Health Department. “It is tradition here to ‘cure’ animal bites and fevers by wearing the skin of a freshly slaughtered sheep. They continue these superstitions because they have no alternatives,” he said. Irfan said that the government had never launched a polio campaign in the area and there was no basic pharmacy. “With the BHU gone, all the people have is their witch doctors and quacks.” Locals have demanded that Gurchani, elected MPA from PP247, should be suspended from office. PPP MPA from PP249 Sardar Amanullah Khan Dareeshak said “this is shameful. There was only one health facility for thousands in that area and he has torn it down to expand his property.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th,  2011.