03-20-2010, 01:18 PM
* EDO (Education) claims houses ‘illegally’ constructed on school’s property
* Lady Mclagan School was originally a lab-school for Lady Mclagan College, which has now become the University of Education’s Bank Road Campus
* Affected university employees say they are legal occupants
* School principal says school to build new block to accommodate secondary school students on vacated land
LAHORE: The CDGL, under the supervision of Education EDO and Data Ganj Buksh town administrator, have demolished around eight or nine of the 25 houses on the premises of what was earlier the historic Lady Mclagan College and is now known as the University of Education, Bank Road Campus, without officially intimating either the occupants or the university administration.
Thirteen of these houses are occupied by residents who work at the university and refuse to vacate them, claiming they are legal occupants and pay their rent regularly to the government. The affected residents alleged that the action was taken at the behest of Lady Mclagan School administration, which had no legal claim to the land. These residents contacted the university administration and asked for help, and upon the intervention of the authorities, the CDGL has given them until Monday morning to clear out. Failing this, their houses would be demolished. Lady Mclagan School itself was made as a lab-school for Lady Mclagan College, which has now become the University of Education’s Bank Road Campus. Students who graduated from the college would often teach at the school, which serves as a training ground of sorts for them.
Rightful owners: Education EDO Dr Muhammad Arshad said the employees’ quarters had been illegally constructed on government land, which was part of the Lady Mclagan School’s property, a claim that was vehemently denied by the residents who said that the land of the school itself was part of the Lady Mclagan College property. He said the government had issued several notices to the people, instructing them to vacate the area, but the people paid no heed and the government eventually went ahead with the demolition. The demolition was carried out when the majority of the men were at work, and the women and children were behind to witness their homes being ‘torn down’. The people did not even get the chance to remove their belongings from their homes, as everything from furniture to electronic appliances and children’s toys were buried underneath the growing pile of rubble. The women and children – who were witnessed weeping inconsolably – launched scathing verbal attacks at the government for its ‘cruelty’ that had left them ‘homeless’.
State brutality: One of the occupants of the demolished houses said it is the ‘worst example of state brutality’ that the CDGL carried out the demolition work without even considering that there might be women and children inside the houses. He said most of the occupants of the demolished quarters worked at the school and the university as auxiliary staff. He said they had proof of rent payment to the Punjab government. He said it was unbelievable that in a bid to grab the land, the school was rendering dozens of people homeless. Another resident said that it was a bid by the school to swoop the land from the university with the help of the city government and the employees of the university were falling prey to this tussle.
New block: Lady Mclagan School Principal Nahida Shamim told Daily Times that they sent a notice to the ‘illegal occupants’ in 2008 and again in 2010 but the people refused to ‘accept’ the notices and ignored them completely. Shamim said the school had requested the government to help vacate its property so it could build another block and accommodate secondary school students. In the past, some school employees did reside at the demolished quarters, but they have retired from duty now and their relatives had illegally occupied the area, she added. Other concerned officials were not available for comment. staff report