PESHAWAR, Nov 24: Owners of private educational institutions have criticized the Town-III administration for its discriminatory action by issuing notices for stopping commercial activity in residential areas.

Baby day-care centres and private schools were issued notices to close down their institutions, but private universities were spared, said a private school owner in the Hayatabad Township, adding that criteria for setting up private institutions in residential area remained undefined.

He said the town authorities had always preferred to order small private schools and institutions to stop their activities in the residential areas of the Hayatabad Township and University Town, whereas offices of the government, United Nations Organizations and NGOs, and clinics, slimming centres and private universities were not issued notices.

"Criteria must be defined to clarify what was commercial and was disturbing the residents and what was a facility for the residents. Small units like baby day-care and montessori centres are established to facilitate working mothers," said woman running a day-care centre in Hayatabad.

The Town-III administration had issued notices in the beginning of the current month disallowing commercial activities in residential areas, said an official of Town-III, adding that 15-day deadline was given but no action had been taken yet.

Town-III Nazim Yaseen Khalil, when contacted, showed ignorance about the notices. The town administration had also issued notices in March 2003 against all those commercial institutions working in residential areas.

Court was moved and it decided in the favour of administration and ordered that no commercial activity would be allowed in the residential area. March 2004 was set as the deadline for shutting down the institutions.

"The district government took no severe action against violators so the commercial activities continued," said an official. However, he acknowledged that the government has not yet developed any strategy of how to halt all kind of commercial activities in the residential area and provide them alternative location.

An official of the City Development and Municipal Department (CD&MD) planning cell said that the areas which were specified for commercial activity were already given to private institutions.

Another official of the Town-III administration said that they could not amend the master plan of the Hayatabad township and it would be difficult for the district government to allocate new area for those institutions who would be close down in the residential areas.