SIALKOT, June 6: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s local leadership has expressed grave concern over the inordinate delay in starting work on the proposed Sialkot Medical College building. Talking to journalists here on Monday, the MMA’s MPA Arshad Mehmood Baggu and its office-bearers Shaikh Attiqur Rehman and Hafiz Zafar Iqbal said that despite passage of two-and-a-half years the provincial and district governments had not begun construction of the college building, due to which the project was in doldrums.

They apprehended the project might lapse because of the lack of government interest and mounting tussle among some leaders of the ruling party.

They threatened to launch a protest movement in the city if the construction was further delayed.

They urged Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and President Gen Musharraf to take measures to remove all political hurdles in the construction of the college.

They alleged that the district government had miserably failed to provide basic facilities at the government educational institutions. Many government schools in the district were without roofs and boundary walls, while as many as 3,000 teachers’ posts were lying vacant since long, they claimed.

When contacted, District Nazim Mian Naeem Javaid said the college’s construction was being delayed because of the tussle between some elected representatives from Gujrat and Gujranwala belonging to the ruling party, who wanted to shift the project to their respective areas.

The Rs750 million project was planned by the district government in collaboration with the city’s business community.