More than 20 shops have been built on all four sides of the school located on Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai Road .
Located on the Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai Road, the school spreads over the 1,000 square yards that is slowly being taken over by the land mafia. More than 20 shops have been built on all four sides of the school premises. Many temporary stalls have also been set up in front of the school.
The shops established outside the school offer printing services, tailoring and a mobile phone shop, along with a tea café right next to the main gate of the school.
Encroachment starts
"This illegal encroachment started about two decades ago on the front side of the school that has now expanded to all the four sides," said primary section principal, Zulfiqar Ali Waggan. Since the last few years, the encroachers have turned their temporary stalls into permanent structures on the school property, he added.
In 2001, a committee was formed, headed by the secondary section former principal Bashir Ahmed. It was decided that all shops that are operational in the front portion should pay Rs10,000 as lease and then Rs500 will be charged monthly to gather funds for the school.
"Only the 10 shops that are facing Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai Road have been leased and were asked to pay a monthly rent of Rs500 to the school," said higher secondary school in-charge, Ghulam Rasool Sayal. "Initially, when the decision was taken some of the shopkeepers paid regularly but today no one pays a single rupee."
Business point-of-view
A few shopkeepers told the The Express Tribune that they bought the land from the previous owner. While others insisted they pay monthly rent to the owner, who has an agreement with the school authorities.
"I am handling this business of shoes over here for the past 11 years," said the owner of a shoes shop in front of the school. "I have leased the shop, my father used to run this shop before me," he added.
"I know this is an educational place," said a shopkeeper working at a tea café. "But we pay Rs500 according to the agreement made 15 years ago." He said that he has been operating the shop for the last 20 years.
School landscape
The school has three main buildings, which houses classrooms for pre-primary, primary, lower secondary and higher secondary grades. The school also has three gates out of which only two are functional while one has been closed.
The gate on the right side was encroached by a local catering service provider. "He had set up a shop here and used to put his catering material on the school premises too," said Waggan, pointing towards the black gate on the right side of the school. Waggan appreciated the local residents who made the caterer evacuate the school premises.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 8th, 2015.
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