ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is studying a proposal to shift the Bacha Khan University (BKU) in Charsadda, which came under a gruesome terror attack last month, to a safe place.
The proposal was discussed during a visit to the university by a delegation of HEC officials headed by its chairman Professor Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, on Tuesday.
The BKU was set up in 2012 in a building belonging to the agriculture department. Later 800 kanals of land near the M1 motorway in Charsadda area was allocated for the university campus. The place had a lot of encroachments which, the HEC chairman said, had been removed.
The area is a much better place for the campus than the previous location, according to HEC officials. They noted that the university was currently located near a village. It is not an ideal place for an educational institution.
The HEC chairman told Dawn that the university management had been asked to prepare a master plan for shifting the university to the allocated land.
“We will start working on the project after receiving the master plan and related documents,” he said.
HEC spokesman Ayesha Ikram said that after receiving the documents, the commission would prepare a PC-1 of the project and then seek funding from the federal government.
The commission team also reviewed security measures at the campus and discussed steps required for strengthening the arrangements and HEC support in this regard.
Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Fazalur Rahim Marwat briefed the HEC delegation on the attack and measures taken to strengthen security.
Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2016