CHAKWAL: Punjab Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfraz on Monday addressed reservations expressed by farmers in Thoha Bahadur village regarding the acquisition of land for a university in Chakwal.

Addressing a press conference at his residence, Mr Sarfraz said the government was not going to acquire private land to establish the University of North Punjab.

“We have enough land located in the premises of the Barani Agricultural Research Institute, and we also have 900 kanals of land acquired years ago for an engineering college,” he said.

Chief Minister Usman Buzdar gave principal approvalfor the establishment of the university a week ago. The Punjab government has included the university in its annual Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and allocated Rs1 billion for the current fiscal year.

Mr Sarfraz, the MPA from Chakwal, had the university approved.

“When I was elected MPA I resolved to establish a university town in Chakwal and turn Chakwal into a lake district,” he said.

He said the site proposed for the university is located near the Balkassar interchange on the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway, as it is a central location for Chakwal, Jhelum and Mianwali.

Residents of Thoha Bahadur village, which is located near the Balkassar interchange, protested in front of the deputy commissioner’s office a few days, expressing their reservations regarding the acquisition of land for the proposed university.

They said the government had already acquired hundreds of kanals of their land to build the motorway and bypass, and for the University of Engineering and Technology’s Taxila campus.

However, Mr Sarfraz said no proposal to acquire private land has even been discussed.

“It is not necessary to build the entire campus on one site. Rather, we will construct different colleges of the university on different sites in the districts on government land,” he said.

He added that projects to set up tourist resorts at Dharabi Dam and Dhoke Tahlian Dam have been approved and work on them will commence soon.

“The project to establish a parkwayin Kallar Kahar has also been approved, and the e-Rozgar project for Chakwal has also been sanctioned,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2019