School squatters: DCO orders retrieval of 44 public schools

District coordination officer orders retrieval of 44 schools from the control of encroachers in Khanewal.

KHANEWAL: The district coordination officer (DCO) ordered the retrieval of 44 schools from the control of encroachers in the district on Tuesday.

In a meeting of the district review committee, the DCO was told that 14 schools were completely under illegal occupation by encroachers, while another 30 were partially occupied.

The DCO has issued strict orders to the district monitoring officer, education department officers and other departments to take action against the encroachers. He ordered the concerned deputy district officer revenue (DDOR’s) to cooperate with the Health and Education Departments to recover the schools from the encroachers.

The district monitoring officer informed the meeting that 30 more school buildings had been lying vacant due to the absence of teachers. The DCO said that an ‘occupation-free’ certificate be sought from the headmasters of every school and a campaign had been launched against the encroachers with the cooperation of the media.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2011.