QAU faculty seeks to alter bypass project route

Says road project will have bearing on botanical garden, research centre

ISLAMABAD:

The Academic Staff Association (ASA) of the Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad on Wednesday asked the authorities concerned to alter the route of the Bhara Kahu bypass project as it was bifurcating the university's land which would create problems for its future expansion.

Addressing a press conference here, the ASA expressed their concern over the project saying: "the teaching faculty and major stakeholders were not consulted prior to the start of the project. They said that the current route if implemented will have bearing on the botanical garden, a research centre and the residential colony.

The ASA also represented by eminent physicist and activist Pervez Hoodbhoy said the project was taken up in haste and the Bhara Kahu flyover on Murree Road was the alternate solution.

They also expressed resentment over the demolition of the university's boundary wall for the construction work and said that would create safety and security issues for the staff and the students at large.

The ASA said that the future of next generations was linked to the QAU and the ongoing project would affect the education and research process in the country's top university.

The ASA also expressed dissatisfaction over the alternative land provided to the university stating that it was five kilometres away from the campus and the distance would create a lot of problems for educational and managerial sections.

Earlier, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued a stay order, halting construction work on a portion of the multi-billion Bhara Kahu bypass project till the next hearing and sought a reply from the federal government.

A professor of the QAU through his counsel had challenged the project in the IHC stating that the land on which the bypass was being built actually belonged to the university.

In its written order issued later, the IHC said that “until the next date fixed only, no further construction activity shall be undertaken within the boundary wall of the QAU”.

Earlier, when IHC judge Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb took up the matter, the petitioner’s counsel, Kashif Malik said that the Bhara Kahu bypass was being built on the land of the QAU.

The court asked the petitioner’s counsel whether the bypass was not a project of public interest. Whether a portion of the university’s building had been demolished to create space for the road.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2022.