PESHAWAR, Nov 28: Residents of the Hayatabad Township are facing problems after clinics and private schools and colleges in the area were closed on the orders of the town-III administration.

About two months back, the town-III administration had served notices on private schools and clinics in the Hayatabad Township, a residential area, asking them to vacate their premises and shift to some commercial and non-residential places.

The directives caused an uproar among school-owners and doctors who also approached court against the order.

The court, however, upheld the directives of the town-III administration and asked the aggrieved parties to comply with the instructions.

Town-III Nazim Yasin Khan Khalil told Dawn that under the Building Control Authority (BCA) rules, it was illegal to establish and operate clinics or schools in residential areas because it entailed problems for the local residents.

He said action had been initiated following complaints lodged by the residents of Hayatabad against these schools and clinics.

“We held meetings with the owners of these schools and clinics wherein it was decided that these schools and clinics would be shifted to some commercial areas by March 2004. The court has also given its order in our favour but we have given them a deadline, because we want students to complete their session and also to facilitate doctors so that they could find new places to set up their clinics,” said Mr Khalil.

Owners of about 25 schools, which according to the BCA’s rules, had been operating illegally, argued that the future of about 3,500 students was at stake. Similarly, they argued that hundreds of people employed at these institutes would be rendered jobless.

According to owners of these schools and clinics, the government had allotted plots reserved for schools and clinics to people who were either not interested in constructing schools or clinics or had been using these plots for purposes other than schools and clinics.

Local union councillors have been opposing the town-III administration decision, saying it was not based on justice. A general councillor, Shaukat Khurshid, said the administration had issued the directive in haste and that the councillors had not been consulted.

The councillors said no complaint had been received from the residents of Hayatabad and the Nazim had taken the decision on his own.

“The closure of clinics is causing huge problems for the people who used to visit these centres because of being in proximity. Now, the people had to take a patient either to the casualty ward of a private hospital or the Hayatabad Medical Complex, which are away from the people,” said a Hayatabad resident.