New colleges add to Pindi’s land disputes

PML-N MNA's proposal for two new colleges seen as encroachment by city officials.

RAWALPINDI: Controversy has broken out over the construction of two new colleges in Rawalpindi city which were proposed by PML-N Member National Assembly (MNA) Malik Shakeel Awan.

Awan intended to build a Boys Degree College on the land of a public park (Liaquat Bagh) and a technical college for women on the land of a government college while ignoring the concerns of relevant officials, according to sources.

The size of Liaquat Bagh has already been reduced because of the construction of numerous buildings and offices, which include the premises of Water and Sanitation Agency, Rawalpindi Development Authority, Liaquat Bagh Squash Complex and Rawalpindi Press Club.

Malik Awan told The Express Tribune that no boys’ college had been constructed in Rawalpindi city in the past 22 years. He said a new college would be constructed on the land of Town Municipal Administration in Liaquat Bagh on the banks of Nullah Leh.

Awan said that administration has no use of that land except for storage of raw material.

Officials of the TMA, on the other hand, termed the project as the “ill-intention of a PML-N MNA to occupy land.” They said building a college in a public park was prohibited, making Awan’s role in the proposal peculiar.

Malik Shakeel held that there was no need to take permission from TMA because Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was the authority in this matter.

A top official of TMA told The Express Tribune that the administration was expecting that the CM would not approve the proposal without seeking the comments of the administration first.

The incumbent office of TMA was temporary, he said, adding that TMA badly required that land for maintenance of the public park. Any other construction at the place would not be a wise idea, he said.

On the other hand, a teachers’ delegation from Government Commerce College, Phagwari, Satellite Town met with MNA Malik Awan and complained that land grabbers had occupied 22 acres land of their college. One of the members of the delegation later told The Express Tribune that Awan had misbehaved with them. Awan’s stance was that a technical college for women would be constructed in the government college.

Principal Government Commerce College Professor Farukh Raja told The Express Tribune that the college’s land was occupied by an influential grabber who had “good relations” with politicians. The college administration in 2008 had conveyed their problem to Punjab Chief Minister who had directed the District Coordination Officer to look into the issue.

Rawalpindi Development Authority on the direction of the DCO carried out a demarcation and declared that the land was owned by the college but could not do anything to get back the possession, Raja said.

The professor added that they already needed to increase seats in the commerce college and wanted to build new blocks, but the non-cooperative attitude on the part of the city government was the main hurdle in their way.

To build a new college on that land would not be a solution of the dispute, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2010.