RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) on Thursday issued notices to 263 educational institutions established in the residential areas across the cantonments without permission.

According to a senior RCB official, owners of these institutions were given 15 days to explain their position to the cantonment board regarding the use of residential property for commercial purposes without permission.

“We will vacate these schools by the end of March so children can complete the academic year,” he said.

The official said that according to the law, private businesses cannot be operated in residential areas without changing the purpose of the land. He said many complaints had been received from locals as the private schools also create a traffic mess in the area.

MoD has been supplied with a list of these schools to decide if their leases should be cancelled

When asked RCB spokesperson Qaiser Mehmood explained that under the commercialization policy, owners are to take permission from the civic body for changing the purpose of the land. He said the federal government has already cancelled the leases of 12 educational schools on Peshawar Road and that the cantonment board was executing the orders and asking school owners to vacate the buildings as soon as possible.

The list of 263 schools has been dispatched to the Ministry of Defence to decide if their leases should be cancelled, he said, and that the Senate Committee on Defence has already given directives for removing educational institutions from residential areas.

Workshop owners retaliate

Workshop owners in Ahata Mitho Khan on Adamjee Road on Thursday protested against the RCB when officials of the civic agency started confiscating the car engines displayed on the main road, creating hurdles for traffic.

The protesters also punctured the tyres of the RCB’s truck which was loaded with confiscated goods and the officials had to leave though they claimed to have confiscated 15 engines.

The main road was blocked for all kinds of traffic for more than two hours due to the protest.

An RCB official told Dawn that the operation was started in the morning for removing goods displayed on footpaths and roadsides.

“When the goods were loaded on the trucks, more than 20 people came and started arguing with RCB officials for removing the encroachments. More people started joining in and they put up a resistance against the officials,” he said.

The official added that the operation had to be stopped and that an FIR was lodged with the Cantonment police station against more than eight unknown persons and four workshop owners.

Cantonment police station investigating officer Mushtaq Ahmed told Dawn no arrests had been made so far but a case was registered against workshop owners for obstructing government officials from conducting their duty.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2018