SWABI: The provincial government has released Rs1.8 billion for the building of the Gajju Khan Medical College, Swabi.

The college had admitted 85 students last year but the number dropped to 50 this year due to a lack of accommodation.

All those students had passed the July 23 entry test for medical colleges in the province.

Sources said the college had informed the Khyber Medical University, Peshawar, in advance that it would face problems

even in enrolling 50 students under the current circumstances.

The college had begun functioning in a makeshift building of the Bacha Khan Hospital Complex, Shahmansoor.

The sources said the acquisition of land for the college’s building had been underway and that the release of funds for it showed the ruling PTI’s keen desire to see the building in place at the earliest.

“We have proposed three sites to Swabi deputy commissioner Mutasibillah but 110 kanals of land adjacent to the college’s current makeshift building is the most suitable,” claimed an official.

He said the DC was likely to impose Section 4 in the area for land acquisition soon.

The sources said the file of the proposed sites had already reached the DC office and that action on it was likely to be initiated next week.

They said the government had allocated Rs200 million for land’s acquisition and that the proposed 110 kanals of land could be acquired with the help of the sanctioned amount.

The sources said the government faced problem in acquiring land for the college’s building as the residents of Shahmansoor were reluctant to give away their land, whose value had gone up after the construction of the Bacha Khan Hospital, Shahmansoor Township and Swabi police lines and start of work on judicial lockup and district offices.

Meanwhile, the PML-N on Saturday announced that it would celebrate the night before the Independence Day instead of Aug 14 in Swabi district.

It said a function had been planned in a local hostel on Sunday night for which arrangements were made by the party’s youth wing.

PML-N district president Iftikhar Ahmad Khan told reporters that leaders from across the district would attend the function.Meanwhile, the district administration, universities and various organisations have also planned to celebrate 70th Independence Day on Monday.

Also, the police have filed an FIR against the suspended SHO of Kalu Khan police station, Swabi, on the orders of the Peshawar High Court.

The SHO, who is at large, faces the charge of killing a man in a fake encounter.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2017