MULTAN, Dec 2: Delay in the allotment of land may jeopardize the setting up of a sub-campus of Bahauddin Zakariya University on permanent basis in Dera Ghazi Khan. The Higher Education Commission has reportedly refused to approve funds till the allocation of land for the purpose.

Project director Prof Dr Zahoor Ahmed Sheikh had reportedly submitted a PC-1 scheme to HEC authorities through university high-ups to set up the campus over an area of 200 acres of land with an estimated cost of Rs500 million.

The required piece of land was selected which was owned by the provincial forest department on Dera-Sakhi Sarwar road. Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool had also given his nod and directed the provincial board of revenue in August to expedite the allotment process.

However, the matter is still said to be in the doldrums. The project director has been making every effort to get the land allocated before the forthcoming meeting of the HEC’s project approval committee, but to no avail.

Talking to Dawn, he expressed his fear that the HEC might drop the BZU’s Dera campus from the list of its projects to be approved in the current year.

If happened, this would be a serious blow to the endeavour of providing higher education facilities in the far-off areas, he said.

Presently, the BZU campus in Dera is admitting students to disciplines of MBA and BBA while the computer science department is in the offing. Students, especially females, consider opportunities of higher education in their backward area a blessing.

MBA student Asma said she might not have thought of getting this level of professional education had there been no facility in the area.

Similar was the assertion of BBA student Sidra Farooq who was full of praise for the campus atmosphere, as according to her, it was highly conducive to learning.

It was not possible for me to go to big cities for higher education owing to the financial condition of my parents, she said.

Najeebullah, an MBA student, said the campus management had even provided the facility of digital library to students to access relevant books which sometimes were not available even in the country.

He urged the authorities to remove all the bottlenecks in the delay of allotment of land for the establishment of their permanent campus.

The BZU sub-campus is currently working in a building block of the Government College. Prof Zahoor said that a permanent building would ultimately lead to establishment of a full-fledged university in the area.