Good samaritan: Citizen saves schools from possible demolition
Petition filed by a citizen bears fruit as SHC informed that city set aside money to repair threatened schools.
KARACHI:
A petition filed by a citizen, Sami Ahsan, bore fruit on Wednesday when the Sindh High Court was informed that the city had set aside money to repair threatened schools in a prime commercial area of PECHS.
The 11,000-square yard plot houses the Government Girls Secondary School, Government Boys Secondary School, Nabi Bagh Girls Secondary School, Quaideen Boys Secondary School and Shah Faisal Girls Secondary School.
Ahsan, a resident of the squatter settlement Shikarpur Colony, had filed his petition in the Sindh High Court, maintaining that the plot was extremely valuable and the builders mafia was eyeing it. He argued that some departments, including the education department, had colluded with the mafia to break down the schools and relocate them on to smaller portions of this plot to free up space. They would give the excuse that the school buildings were old. The remaining part of the plot would then be let out to build a commercial complex, for which huge bribes would be paid and massive profits would be made by the builders.
At the court proceedings on Wednesday, the bench was informed that money would be set aside to repair the schools. However, the petitioner expressed the fear that the money would be misused. In order to prevent this from happening, a neutral consultant should be appointed in line with Sindh Local Government rules. The court requested a periodical progress report and adjourned till April 20.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 7th, 2011.
A petition filed by a citizen, Sami Ahsan, bore fruit on Wednesday when the Sindh High Court was informed that the city had set aside money to repair threatened schools in a prime commercial area of PECHS.
The 11,000-square yard plot houses the Government Girls Secondary School, Government Boys Secondary School, Nabi Bagh Girls Secondary School, Quaideen Boys Secondary School and Shah Faisal Girls Secondary School.
Ahsan, a resident of the squatter settlement Shikarpur Colony, had filed his petition in the Sindh High Court, maintaining that the plot was extremely valuable and the builders mafia was eyeing it. He argued that some departments, including the education department, had colluded with the mafia to break down the schools and relocate them on to smaller portions of this plot to free up space. They would give the excuse that the school buildings were old. The remaining part of the plot would then be let out to build a commercial complex, for which huge bribes would be paid and massive profits would be made by the builders.
At the court proceedings on Wednesday, the bench was informed that money would be set aside to repair the schools. However, the petitioner expressed the fear that the money would be misused. In order to prevent this from happening, a neutral consultant should be appointed in line with Sindh Local Government rules. The court requested a periodical progress report and adjourned till April 20.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 7th, 2011.