After staging several protests to save Punjab University Cooperative Housing Society’s land from the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) for utilisation in the Metro Orange Train depot, the Punjab University Academic Staff Association (PUASA) has finally sought Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif’s intervention in the matter.
PUASA has appealed to the CM to bar LDA from using the society’s land for the Metro Orange Train project, suggesting the LDA use thousands of kanals of land lying vacant around the society to execute the project.
PUASA President Prof Dr Hassan Mubeen Aalam has supported the teachers’ concern by saying that the teachers had built their houses in the society after paying instalments for 13 years to settle the cost of land.
On the other hand, Lahore Transport Company Chairman Khawaja Ahmed Hassaan, through a telephonic address on June 11, had reportedly guaranteed the teachers that the Metro Orange Train Project would not affect their houses. However, the survey teams have not kept themselves from visiting the society and the teachers and security guards have been resisting their entrance, a news source said. Dr Aalam termed such interference a serious violation of the commitment.
PUASA Secretary Dr Mehboob Hussain said that they were considering demonstrations outside the CM’s Secretariat on Mall Road and outside Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s residence in Jati Umra to get their appeals heard.
Hussain added that they had the support of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association, adding that the teachers associations were ready to hold countrywide demonstrations, boycott exams and shut down universities.
The issue of the Punjab University Cooperative Housing Society seems to be getting serious by the day. Neither the PU academic staff nor LDA seem to back down from their stance.
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