RAHIM YAR KHAN: The work on project of Cadet College Khanpur has not started despite the passage of almost eight years since its announcement.

On Nov 21, 2008, members of provincial and national assembly of PPP from the district met the then Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and during the meeting, the PM announced the Cholistan Cadet College for Khanpur tehsil and allocated Rs500 million for it.

After one year, MPA Mian Muhammad Aslam sent an application to the PM that its name was changed from the Cholistan Cadet College to Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Cadet College. A piece of 250 acres land was selected at Wahi Hazrat village, some six kilometres from Khanpur city. This piece of 250 acres land was not transferred from the Auqaf department to the Board of Revenue because this land was being used for agriculture purposes and it was in the jurisdiction of the Cholistan Development Authority, Bahawalpur.

According to Mian Aslam, the federal government had transferred Rs500m to the Punjab chief secretary but alleged that the Punjab government was against the Benazir Cadet College for being the project of the PPP government in the federal capital.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had announced in 2014 at Sadiqabad Stadium that the cadet college would be completed in one-and-a-half years but its name would be the Cadet College Khanpur.

Khanpur Assistant Commissioner Chaudhry Abdul Ghaffar said the land of the college had been transferred to the Punjab government from the Auqaf department against the same amount of land transferred to the Auqaf department.

He said the PC-I was being prepared for the project of the cadet college and planning and the education department was overseeing the project.

District Coordination Officer retired Capt Muhammad Zafar Iqbal said the project was worth Rs1 billion and after completion of PC-I, it was in the office of the Planning and Development for final approval. He said the construction work would start soon after its final approval.

Assistant Director Education (projects) Rana Arshad said PC-I of college along with rough cost estimate and revenue component had been submitted to the secretary schools. The capital cost of the project was Rs1.28b and its revenue cost would be Rs380m. The department of planning and building will look after its construction work, he said.

A government officer, requesting anonymity, said the project of cadet college would take more than three to four years more because the government was spending funds on roads and clean-drinking water.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2016