RAWALPINDI: The Punjab Building Department has stopped constructing boundary walls around public colleges in the Rawalpindi district after the provincial government did not release the required funds in the outgoing fiscal year of 2015-16.

Because they are without barbed wires and boundary walls, 50 colleges in the district, which include 28 for girls and 22 for boys, face security threats.

After the attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda in November 2015, the government issued directives to raise boundary walls of educational institutes above eight feet and also to install barbed wires.

And though the government allocated Rs250 million for making security arrangements, all the money was not released in the outgoing fiscal year.

Punjab govt failed to release funds in the outgoing fiscal year

In the Rawalpindi district, security arrangements were made in the colleges that were declared very sensitive but those put in category B are still waiting for funds.

The head of a college said his institution had pointed out the vulnerable points of the college to the provincial government, which was yet to take action accordingly.

He said the summer vacations are ideal to carry out construction work in but the provincial building department does not have the funds required to start with building boundary walls.

He added that the government has threatened the heads of departments and colleges to make necessary security arrangements before schools or colleges opened, otherwise the head of the institution will be booked.

It is the government’s responsibility to release finds for security measures and to provide students and teachers with a safe environment, he said.

When asked, Punjab Building Department Sub-Divisional Officer Masood Ranjha confirmed that the department had completed construction work in the institutions declared very sensitive and that 10 category B colleges still did not have boundary walls.

He said the department will resume work as soon as the funds are released.

On the other hand, security arrangements for public sector schools in the Rawalpindi district are also faced with procedural hiccups due to the shortage of funds.

More than 1,946 government run schools have together spent Rs240 million from their development budget on making security arrangements.

The Punjab government is yet to release the Rs102 million it had allocated in the outgoing fiscal year for improving the security measures in the second category of sensitive schools.

Soon after they received directions from the provincial government to construct boundary walls, install barbed wire, UPS devices, CCTV cameras and other security measures, government school administrations spent most of their non-salary budgets on making these arrangements.

A senior official at the education department told Dawn that between Rs0.8 and Rs1 million had been received for replacing missing facilities in public schools which had been utilised in arranging for security measures after directives were issued by the provincial government.

He said government run schools were not likely to be given more funds in the current fiscal year and that the previous amount had also been released in the mid of the outgoing fiscal year.

He said it was unlikely that missing facilities like chairs, benches, computer labs, water coolers and fans will likely not be replaces in the coming five months.

When asked, Executive Officer Qazi Zahoorul Haq maintained that Rs102 million had been allocated for security measures and that two instalments of the funds had been released so far. The remaining, he said, will be released in the next fiscal year of 2016-17.

Construction work will start in government run schools after Eidul Fitr, when the government releases the lapsed funds.

He added that the department will write a letter to the finance department to reallocate the finds and release them in the fiscal year 2016-17.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2016