Haleem vows to save historical school building from land mafia

Haleem vows to save historical school building from land mafia
Haleem vows to save historical school building from land mafia

KARACHI, Jan 12 (APP): Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Sheikh, Wednesday, said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will resist an attempt for grabbing valuable land of a pre-partition school in Dalmia area of Karachi by land mafia in connivance with relevant departments of Sindh government.

The Manik Government Boys Secondary School Dalmia was established in 1933 by Ram Kirshan Dalmia and is providing educational facilities to residents of the areas from generation. In 1993 the land of closed cement factory was allotted to Kolachi Cooperatives Housing Society which reportedly sold the piece of land where school building is situated to a builder.


Haleem Adil Sheikh, after receiving complaints from area residents, visited the school along with PTI MPA Arslan Ghumman, Akber Morejo and others. He inspected different sections of the school building and met with teachers and students of the school and residents of area who told the opposition leader that they all were against proposed shifting of the school to new location.


Speaking at the occasion Haleem Adil Sheikh said that around 90 year old school was a historical asset and it could not be demolished but Murad Ali Shah led Sindh government was attempting to raze a historical building.


An under construction building on a residential plot of Kolachi Cooperative Society was named as Manic school while school administration was directed to vacate the existing school building, he said adding that earlier play ground of the school was handed over to builder mafia and now school itself was under threat.


Traditionally majority of the area vote for PPP and it was responsibility of PPP leadership to value will and sentiments of their voters, Haleem said adding that in past when the school was deprived of its play ground PPP’s elected representatives connived with builder mafia but now PTI was representing the area and they would not allow land mafia to usurp the valuable land of the historical school.


He alleged that Sindh Education Minister Sardar Shah and Secretary Education Akbar Laghari were also involved in the illicit deal of billions and Akbar Laghari also visited the school on Sunday.


He accused Cm Sindh Murad Ali Shah and provincial minister Sardar Shah of selling out historical Umerkot Fort, putting the Hyderabad fort on the market, making money by exploiting archaeological site of Moen jo Daro and even trying to sell Quaid-e-Azam House. “But we will not allow them to hand over the historical school to land mafia and will resist their nefarious designs,” he vowed.


Different areas of Karachi were handed over to land mafia and illegal constructions were raised in the metropolis, he said adding that but when courts took action poor people had to suffer. Land mafia was happy that Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed was retiring but they should know if one judge is going he would be replaced by the other one.


Responding to a query about Murad Ali Shah’s satire on Murree incident, he said that whatever occurred in Murree was tragic and befitting action should be taken against the responsible officials. That incident took place due to extreme weather but here in Sindh 10 people had lost lives in Tando Jam due to consuming liquor, he said and demanded of fair investigation of sad incident and fixing responsibility on negligent officials.


PTI member Sindh Assembly Arslan Ghumman while speaking at the occasion said that Sindh Education minister Sardar Shah had recently closed 11 thousand schools across Sindh and now they wanted to close down this historical school as well.


Sindh government and its Education and Revenue departments were patronizing land mafia and illegal land grabbing and play ground of the school was earlier handed over to Kolachi Cooperative Society by demolishing the boundary wall of the school and now a project was planned there, he stated and vowed that land mafia would not be allowed to usurp the school land.


He said that due to connivance of government departments numerous instances of land grabbing and illegal construction were observed in Sindh particularly in Karachi and one of them was issue of Tijori Heights. Earlier government agencies submitted in the Apex Court that apartment was build over private land and when issue was highlighted real facts surfaced and consequently citizens who had invested in the project had to suffer, he noted.


Former UC Nazim of the area, Akbar Morejo, said that he himself got education from Manik school and about a century old school was being handed over to builder mafia. He said that if Sindh government needed money he was ready to pay the amount to the government to save the historical educational institution.


He appealed Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of the illicit deal between Sindh government and land mafia and taken immediate action to save the school.

APP Services