GUJRAT, June 21 The construction of academic blocks of Nawaz Sharif Medical College and ancillary expansion of the Hafiz Hayat Campus of the University of Gujrat (UoG) has encountered yet another snag after the Punjab government had to shelve the acquisition of land for the project following opposition by the owners of the proposed lands in the vicinity of the university.

The reluctant farmers appear to have manipulated the process through 'political' intervention in what appeared to be sheer disappointment to the UoG as its plans to expand its infrastructure stand frustrated.

Sources told Dawn on Monday that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has directed the district administration not to proceed with the acquisition of agricultural lands in Kot Ameer Hussain, Ghuman, Hardaspur and Ikhlasgarh villages near Jallapur Jattan Road after the PML-N's local leadership persuaded the provincial chief executive into abandoning the proposed purchase. The prime minister's adviser on political affairs, Nawabzada Ghazanfar Ali Gul, is also thought to have been instrumental in getting the acquisition halted. The proposed lands fall in National Assembly's NA-104 constituency wherefrom Gul would contest his elections and the farmers of this area might have approached him to intervene and protect their tangible assets.

Sources said the chief minister had been briefed by PML-N district president Malik Hanif Awan that the proposed site for the construction of Nawaz Sharif Medical College adjacent to the UoG's Hafiz Hayat Campus would consume vast tracts of fertile yet expensive lands and their owners were not willing to accept 'petty' acquisition proceeds from the government.

Moreover, the construction of academic blocks for the medical college at the site adjacent to the UoG would also mar the beauty of medical college's independent façade required to distinguish it from the university.

Sources added that it was also brought into the notice of the chief minister that there were several other chunks of government lands available in the district that could be utilised for the purpose. The selection of any piece of government land could save millions of rupees reserved to buy lands from private owners and that money could be pumped into subsequent construction of the college's academic blocks and the 200-bed teaching hospital.

The UoG administration that had initially been tasked with executing the project had proposed the acquisition of 160 acres of land from four villages in the close proximity of its Hafiz Hayat Campus at an estimated cost of Rs149.600 million. It is pertinent to mention here that in the proposed site plan, the university administration had also intended to utilise some land for the expansion of its own campus, ostensibly with the same money that had been reserved for the purchase of the land for the medical college.

However, the entire site plan has now been rejected by the Punjab chief minister as it has been conveyed to the Gujrat district coordination officer (DCO) to stop the acquisition of the proposed land forthwith.

Talking to Dawn, DCO Sirdar Akram Javed confirmed having received such directives from the Chief Minister's Secretariat. However, he said that he had not received any formal directive (in writing) and that he had been communicated only on telephone.

When asked about any possible alternative site, the DCO said that the forest land in Rakh Pabbi Sarkar area between Kharian and Sara-i-Alamgeer along the G.T. Road was most likely to be selected owing to its suitable location as the health facility would benefit the people from neighboring Jhelum, Mandi Bahauddin and Chakwal districts of the Punjab province and Azad Jammu and Kashmir's Bhimber and Mirpur districts. He said that Pabbi was located exactly in the middle of Lahore-Rawalpindi stretch of G.T. Road, making it conveniently accessible from both the big cities of the province. However, the DCO said, it was entirely up to the government to select any other appropriate site for the construction of academic blocks of the medical college.