ISLAMABAD, Oct 17: Federal Minister for Health Mohammad Nasir Khan told the National Assembly on Friday that at present there was no proposal under consideration of the government to establish a medical college at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in Islamabad.

The minister stated this in a written reply to a question of MMA MNA Mian Mohammad Aslam. There were no supplementary questions in the Assembly on Friday, as the deputy speaker adjourned the House due to lack of quorum without completing the question-answer session.

The health minister said a proposal to set up a medical college at Pims was initiated sometime back but it could not materialize. “The project was not included in the approved Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) at any stage, consequently the Departmental Development Working Party (DDWP) could not operationalize PC-I of the said college,” the minister added.

Moreover, he said a postgraduate medical institution, called Quaid-i-Azam Postgraduate Medical College, was already functioning there since Oct 18, 1988.

In a written reply to a question of Chaudhry Anwar Ali Cheema, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said plots were allotted to the employees of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in Sector I-11 in the year 1990, but possession of 850 plots had not been delivered to them due to the adverse possession of the area by the locals and Afghan refugees.

Without mentioning any specific time, the interior minister said the possession of the plots would be given to the allottees immediately after vacation of area and completion of development work.

In response to a question of Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, the interior minister said work for construction of dual carriageway from Faizabad to Pirwadhai was in progress and was expected to be completed by April 2005. Replying to a question of Hizbullah Bughio, Mr Hayat said the PC-1 for the rehabilitation of Park Road from Rawal Dam Chowk to Chak Shahzad had already been approved and work was expected to start in October, this year, at a cost of Rs25.024 million.

To another question of the same MNA, he said a children park had been earmarked in Sector G-11/2 and a piece of land had also been specified for the same purpose by the CDA two years ago. Mr Hayat said the park was proposed to be developed during the next financial year.