HYDERABAD, June 12: The members of the City Taluka Council here on Wednesday threatened to resign en bloc if the auction of the Old Bakra Mandi plot, meant for a girls degree college, was not cancelled.

The council adopted the resolution at a requestioned meeting, deploring that despite the assurance by the Sindh governor and passage of many resolutions by taluka and district councils, the auction was not cancelled by the privatization commission. The meeting termed it a conspiracy by the bureaucracy, aimed at pitting elected members against the government.

The members followed Abdul Waheed, who staged a brief walkout in protest against the delay in cancellation of the auction.

After moving her resolution, Taranum Naz said it was disappointing that against his own assurance, the Sindh governor approved the auction in the Sindh cabinet meeting. It negated the “education for all” policy of the government. The district Nazim also did not make sincere efforts, she said.

The members of the council said the government had failed to protect rights of people.

They said they would stage a protest in front of the Governor House and if the auction was still not cancelled, they would tender resignations en bloc.

They said the G-ward, having a population of six lakhs, needed a girls college, as girls of the area could not afford travelling to other areas and they had to leave education.

The members regretted that the proposal was being delayed since 1994.

They said the builder was inviting objections through the privatization commission on the said plot which indicated that the auction was not cancelled despite the governor’s assurance that only a college would be constructed on the plot.

The members appealed to the president, Sindh governor and district Nazim to take notice of the matter.

Some of the members proposed that the court of law was the proper recourse under the circumstances.

Qamruddin Sheikh, who tabled a motion at the end of the meeting, opposed the threat of resignations as, according to him, it amounted to weakness.

He said the council would not surrender its rights over the plot and only the college would be constructed.

A six-member committee was also formed by the council to peruse the matter.

Convenor Abdul Qadir Naghar presided over the meeting, called by lady councillor Taranum Naz and others.

HUNGER STRIKE: A large number of activists of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) continued their hunger strike for the third consecutive day here on Wednesday.