Abandoned project: Girls’ college in limbo

Construction of girl’s degree college on Police Road was abandoned and is need of attention from authorities.

ISLAMABAD: The ending of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q government and subsequent defeat of Sheikh Rashid Ahmad in the by-elections cost the girls of Rawalpindi a college whose construction lies suspended for the last three years.

Sheikh Rashid, who considers himself the ‘Sir Syed of Rawalpindi,’ had got the land allotted from the Railways ministry for a degree college for girls when he was the Federal Minister for Railways.

Construction work on the land, which lies by the Police Road, started in 2007 with a grant by former prime minister Shaukat Aziz but could not be completed during the Sheikh Rashid’s tenure and remained at a standstill in the absence of interest of an elected parliamentarian after his electoral defeat.

Sheikh Rashid blames the present Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour for the delay as the minister wanted to shelve the college project and build a CNG station and market in that commercial location.

“Bilour sahib is a business-minded person and wants to use the area for commercial purposes,” said Rashid, claiming the Lahore High Court had directed that no commercial plaza be built at the site, yet the work remained stopped.

The present minister could not be contacted till the filing of this report.

However, Zulfiqar Ahmed, an official of the Railways Ministry, rejected the allegations and denied Bilour had given the said land to anyone for commercial purposes.

According to the Divisional Superintendent Railways, Rawalpindi, Tariq Khan, the Railway Marketing Department initially wanted to use the front side of the plot for commercial purposes but the idea was dropped when the college project was approved.  He said the main issue was nonpayment of the cost of land to the Railway by Pak-PWD worth Rs40 million. “We don’t have any objection if we were given the cost of land,” he maintained. He added that the sitting MNA of the area, Shakeel Awan, had got High Court orders to re-start the construction and hopefully it would be started after payment of the dues to the Railways.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2010.