MULTAN Every year thousands of devotees visit the city of saints to offer homage at the shrines of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya, Hazrat Shah Rukn-i-Alam, Hazrat Shah Shams Sabzwari, Hazrat Khwaja Hafiz Jamalullah Multani, Hazrat Musa Pak Shaheed and Hazrat Shah Yousaf Gardezi.

When the urs of any saint begins, insufficient arrangements to accommodate the devotees, who come here from every part of the country, by government officials create problems not only for the devotees but also for the locals. This year, the city district government selected eight educational institutions to accommodate the devotees for a five-day urs celebrations of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya to be held from Jan 31 to Feb 4.

The district government officials met on Jan 21 to review the arrangements for the urs and asked the district education department to arrange accommodation for the devotees.

The education department marked eight schools for the purpose and those were Government Iqbal Girls' School, Hussain Aagahi; Government Islamia High School, Daulat Gate; MC Girls' Middle School, Delhi Gate; MC Girls' Middle School, Aam Khas Bagh; MC Boys' Middle School, Aghapura; MC Girls' Primary School, Jamalpura; Government Wilayat Hussain Islamia College and Government Alamdar Hussain College, Daulat Gate, besides the Hajj Complex.

The district administration, however, failed to declare holidays for the staff and students of these institutions and they faced difficulties due to the mismanagement of the district administration and the education department.

Surprisingly, a few of these institutions were made centers for the examinations of class five and eight and as per schedule these exams would begin from

District Officer (secondary school) Shamsher Khan said today, he had announced holidays for the school staff after the matter was brought into his notice. He said that he had raised the issue of examination centres with the Punjab Examination Commission and asked the authorities to change the centers but they did not agree to it.

Abdul Hameed, a devotee from Sindh, says he has been attending the urs for the last 32 years and accommodation is a permanent problem for the visitors.

He said that the offspring of the saints were enjoying high profile portfolios and they should resolve the problem.