BAHAWALPUR, July 27: Despite the strong public protest, the Punjab government has decided to go ahead with its plan to wind up the Punjab Forest School, Bahawalpur, in the near future.

Dawn learnt that earlier the government had planned to shift this over half-a-century old forest school to Ghora Gali (Murree) with the abolition of the post of its principal.

But the government is now contemplating the closure of this school besides shifting the principal’s post to Dera Ghazi Khan where no forest school exists.

According to a source, the government is taking this step out of vendetta as the forest school principal had challenged this move in the services tribunal which had opposed the transfer of principal’s post to DG Khan.

The Punjab government has taken the stand that the forest school has not been functioning for the last five years while its principal claims that every year foresters are trained here and a batch of 28 forest recruits is scheduled here for training in September next.

As regards the fate of school’s employees, nothing has been assured by the Punjab Forest Department. The employees fear their retrenchment, and in the case of school closure, they will be rendered jobless.

If the school is shifted to Ghora Gali, then there is a possibility that the employees might be absorbed there and transferred from here.

The government has still not announced the absorption of these employees in local government departments which has caused anxiety among them.