CHAKWAL: Major politicians belonging to the PML-N and opposition here have resolved to thwart the proposed establishment of a sub-campus of the University of Gujrat (UoG) at the Government Postgraduate College Chakwal.

On the other hand, the decision taken in haste by the Higher Education Department (HED) of Punjab and the UoG has raised eyebrows and added fuel to the controversial plan.

The federal government set aside Rs2.5 billion for the project, ‘Strengthening and expansion of University of Gujrat and allied campuses’ in its Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2014-15. The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) in its meeting held on June 5 directed the UoG to submit a revised PC-I by including two to three sub-campuses for consideration.

Instead of acquiring separate land, the UoG picked three colleges — Govt Postgraduate College Chakwal, Govt Islamia Postgraduate College Narowal and Govt Postgraduate College for Women Satellite Town Rawalpindi — for turning them into its sub-campuses.

Later, Vice Chancellor UoG Prof Dr Mohammad Nizamuddin wrote a letter to the secretary of HED seeking a quick decision in this regard.

In a meeting chaired by an additional secretary HED on July 10, principals of Chakwal and Narowal colleges opposed the project on the ground that the two colleges would not only lose their identities but thousands of their students would also be deprived of higher education at affordable fees.

The meeting ended without any decision but the additional secretary, Shahid Zaman, assured both the principals that no decision would be taken without addressing their concerns.

But on July 15, Mr Zaman chaired yet another meeting without informing the principals of Chakwal and Narowal colleges.

This meeting made the issue controversial. The additional secretary decided that UoG would take over the three colleges as its sub-campuses for a period of four years. It was also decided that a coordination committee would be set up which would visit the three colleges at the earliest and take the faculty members into confidence. The committee would be responsible to resolve the issues arising in the transition process as well as evaluate the performance of the colleges. The additional secretary also drafted the terms of references (TORs).

On July 24, the principals of Chakwal and Narowal colleges received a call from HED asking them to attend a meeting on July 25. Both principals went to Lahore to attend the meeting and were left shocked when already prepared documents were presented before them to sign. However, the principals refused to sign the decision and TORs.

A delegation of PPLA met MNA Tahir Iqbal who assured them that he would be the first person to challenge the setting up of the sub-campus on the land of Chakwal College.

“The independent status of Chakwal College must be maintained at any cost and a separate sub-campus of the university would be set up in Chakwal as I have already moved an application in this regard to the chief minister,” the MNA told the members of the delegation.

Former district nazim Sardar Ghulam Abbas has warned that he with the support of the people would thwart the plan of setting up of the sub-campus at Chakwal College.

PTI’s district president Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfraz also expressed a similar resolve while a unanimous resolution by the District Bar Association passed a couple of days ago stated that the lawyers would not let HED and UoG establish the sub-campus at Chakwal College. When contacted, the UoG vice chancellor said: “We want to do something best for the people of Chakwal by setting up a sub-campus of UoG there.” Despite repeated attempts Additional Secretary Shahid Zaman could not be contacted.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2014