Development priorities: Site attacked, construction halted
Protesters claim government had earlier agreed to construct a degree college for girls on the site.
FAISALABAD:
Construction work on a truck terminal was brought to halt on Wednesday by more than 100 people who ransacked the construction site and damaged construction material and equipment.
The group, most of them residents of Chak Ramdewali, also attacked the contractor and set some implements and equipment on fire. They said they were protesting the government decision to build a truck stand on the site meant for a degree college for girls.
The protesters had gathered at Faisalabad-Sargodha Road and blocked traffic for more than three hours.
They held iron rods, clubs and axes and shouted slogans against the district administration for allowing the construction of a truck terminal and backing out of assurances given to them. The protesters said they would not let the government construct a truck terminal or any other project on the site.
The construction workers who had tried at first to drive the protesters away, fled away when the crowd turned violent.
The protesters were calmed down after police arrived eventually and assured them that their concerns would be brought to the notice of the district administration.
Salim Aftab, one of the crowd, said that a student science laboratory has been developed adjacent to the site on Arfa Karim Randhawa’s name. He said it was a long standing demand of the people of the city that a degree college for girls be established there to provide higher education facility to the girls. He said the government had shown interest in the college, but had later absconded the idea.
District Coordination Officer (DCO) Nasim Sadiq, however, denied having allotted the land for a girl’s college. He said constructing a college was proposed on the land but it was just one of the proposals, and there was never a decision or a promise in this regard. He said in view of the traffic situation in the city, it was later decided to construct a truck terminal on the land owned by the Revenue Department. He said the facility would help ease traffic and avoid jams in the city. He said work on the terminal project had been stopped temporarily.
The DCO said a meeting will soon be held with some residents of the area to resolve the issue through negotiations.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2012.
Construction work on a truck terminal was brought to halt on Wednesday by more than 100 people who ransacked the construction site and damaged construction material and equipment.
The group, most of them residents of Chak Ramdewali, also attacked the contractor and set some implements and equipment on fire. They said they were protesting the government decision to build a truck stand on the site meant for a degree college for girls.
The protesters had gathered at Faisalabad-Sargodha Road and blocked traffic for more than three hours.
They held iron rods, clubs and axes and shouted slogans against the district administration for allowing the construction of a truck terminal and backing out of assurances given to them. The protesters said they would not let the government construct a truck terminal or any other project on the site.
The construction workers who had tried at first to drive the protesters away, fled away when the crowd turned violent.
The protesters were calmed down after police arrived eventually and assured them that their concerns would be brought to the notice of the district administration.
Salim Aftab, one of the crowd, said that a student science laboratory has been developed adjacent to the site on Arfa Karim Randhawa’s name. He said it was a long standing demand of the people of the city that a degree college for girls be established there to provide higher education facility to the girls. He said the government had shown interest in the college, but had later absconded the idea.
District Coordination Officer (DCO) Nasim Sadiq, however, denied having allotted the land for a girl’s college. He said constructing a college was proposed on the land but it was just one of the proposals, and there was never a decision or a promise in this regard. He said in view of the traffic situation in the city, it was later decided to construct a truck terminal on the land owned by the Revenue Department. He said the facility would help ease traffic and avoid jams in the city. He said work on the terminal project had been stopped temporarily.
The DCO said a meeting will soon be held with some residents of the area to resolve the issue through negotiations.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2012.