KHAR: The residents of Barang and Salarzai areas in Bajaur Agency have warned they will agitate if the construction of two degree colleges approved three years ago doesn’t begin without delay.

They told Dawn that former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmed Khan had approved the establishment of the colleges in Dec 2014 but ironically, their construction had yet to begin.

Jamaat-i-Islami Fata chief Haji Sardar Khan said the delay in the project’s execution had upset the tribesmen, who didn’t have access to higher education.

He alleged that the relevant officials of Fata secretariat and local administration were delaying the construction of colleges to serve personal interests.

The JI leader sought the intervention of the president, prime minister and KP governor for the project’s early execution and warned the local residents would agitate if that didn’t happen.

Barang tehsil elder Malik Bahadar Shah said the long delay in the college’s construction was adversely impacting on the cause of education in the area.

He said the residents had donated land for the college but they were disappointed at the delay in their construction.

The elder said senior officials of the local administration paid several visits to the area during the selection of college site and promised the local residents of the start of work in July 2017 but the promise had yet to be fulfilled.

He said the people of Barang had decided to contact the KP governor and relevant authorities to push for the project’s early execution.

The local student organisations, too, expressed concern about the delay in the colleges’ construction.

Fata Students Forum Pakistan deputy general secretary Gauhar Ali Khan criticised the federal government and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor over indifference to the issue and regretted that on one hand, the authorities claimed to be promoting education in tribal areas for peace and development but on the other, they’re not ensuring the early construction of two colleges in Bajaur Agency’s remote and backward areas.

He warned that the forum would give a call for agitation if work on the project didn’t begin immediately.

Local PML-N leader Nizamuddin Khan, who is also the son of Bajaur Agency MNA Shahabuddin Khan, said he was dismayed at the delay in the colleges’ construction.

He claimed that the Fata secretariat and local administration dealt with the project and not his father.

A relevant official said the local administration had decided to form a committee to ensure early start of work on colleges.

He said the allocated funds would lapse if work on the colleges didn’t begin in the current fiscal.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2017