A matter of housing: Construction of urology institute not to be stopped
Agriculture department workers assured their residences will not be disturbed until the case is decided.
RAWALPINDI:
The Agriculture Soil Conservation Workers’ Union on Tuesday failed to stop the provincial government from setting up an institute of urology on their land.
Even though the union had asked for a stay order last year, a division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) refused to stop Punjab government from constructing the institute.
While hearing a miscellaneous application of the union on Tuesday, Justice Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Saghir Ahmed Qadri of the LHC’s Rawalpindi Bench, assured the workers that the government would make the institute without disturbing staff residences.
However the union workers say it is a temporary arrangement and are worried about their accommodations in the future.
The complex consists of research facilities for the agriculture department as well as staff residences. In its application the union protested against the provincial government’s initiation of construction work at the site while the matter is still pending in court.
Though the court had stopped construction work on the department’s land earlier, later in December last year, it allowed the government to resume construction provided it did not disturb the workers’ residences.
About 600 union workers of agricultural department challenged the July 27 orders of the chief minister about dislocating them and their offices built on a 144-kanal complex. The workers held chief secretary Punjab, secretary health, secretary agriculture, chairperson privatisation board, DG agriculture extensions and district coordination officer DCO Rawalpindi accountable for the construction on their department land.
The provincial government had decided to allocate 100 kanals for construction of the institute of urology while auctioning the remaining 44 kanals through the provincial privatization board. With respect to these decisions, the petitioners in their application blamed the local politicians for misguiding the chief minister, and selling their land at throwaway prices.
The appellants said the complex has 120 quarters and bungalows of the department’s employees in addition to laboratories carrying out research on soil conservation and agriculture. They complained that the government decided to displace them without hearing them out and the chief minister had not responded to their application on reconsidering the decision.
They asked him to revise his decision, asserting that there is lot of land available in the city for the urology institute’s construction. They said a divisional workshop of soil conservation, using machinery worth millions rupees, had been working on a 23-kanal plot since 1955. A big workshop of agriculture engineering has also been functional since 1956 on 27 kanals.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 1st, 2011.
The Agriculture Soil Conservation Workers’ Union on Tuesday failed to stop the provincial government from setting up an institute of urology on their land.
Even though the union had asked for a stay order last year, a division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) refused to stop Punjab government from constructing the institute.
While hearing a miscellaneous application of the union on Tuesday, Justice Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Saghir Ahmed Qadri of the LHC’s Rawalpindi Bench, assured the workers that the government would make the institute without disturbing staff residences.
However the union workers say it is a temporary arrangement and are worried about their accommodations in the future.
The complex consists of research facilities for the agriculture department as well as staff residences. In its application the union protested against the provincial government’s initiation of construction work at the site while the matter is still pending in court.
Though the court had stopped construction work on the department’s land earlier, later in December last year, it allowed the government to resume construction provided it did not disturb the workers’ residences.
About 600 union workers of agricultural department challenged the July 27 orders of the chief minister about dislocating them and their offices built on a 144-kanal complex. The workers held chief secretary Punjab, secretary health, secretary agriculture, chairperson privatisation board, DG agriculture extensions and district coordination officer DCO Rawalpindi accountable for the construction on their department land.
The provincial government had decided to allocate 100 kanals for construction of the institute of urology while auctioning the remaining 44 kanals through the provincial privatization board. With respect to these decisions, the petitioners in their application blamed the local politicians for misguiding the chief minister, and selling their land at throwaway prices.
The appellants said the complex has 120 quarters and bungalows of the department’s employees in addition to laboratories carrying out research on soil conservation and agriculture. They complained that the government decided to displace them without hearing them out and the chief minister had not responded to their application on reconsidering the decision.
They asked him to revise his decision, asserting that there is lot of land available in the city for the urology institute’s construction. They said a divisional workshop of soil conservation, using machinery worth millions rupees, had been working on a 23-kanal plot since 1955. A big workshop of agriculture engineering has also been functional since 1956 on 27 kanals.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 1st, 2011.