Private schools in residential areas won’t be sealed, says Ghani
Karachi:December 15:Minister for Local Government Saeed Ghani has maintained that the Sindh government has no plans to take action against private schools located in residential areas.
Speaking to a delegation of All Karachi Private Schools Association that called on him on Friday, Ghani assured the schools’ administrations and concerned parents that the government would not seal schools in residential areas over the winter break as the Sindh Building Control Authority had said earlier.
The government would not put the future of thousands of students who are studying in these schools in danger, he said. The delegation members expressed their concerns and reservations regarding the SBCA notices issued last month and demands of getting trade licenses.
The minister reassured them that they wouldn’t be asked to get trade licenses. The delegation comprised Syed Shahzad Akhtar, Syed Haider Ali, Syed Tariq Shah, Sharfuz Zaman, Ghulam Abbas Baloch, Shahjahan Khan, Ghulam Mohiyuddin, Nasiruddin, Muhammad Anwar, Muhammad Asif Khan, Umer Atique, Farooq Farrukh, Abdul Hameed, Jahanzeb, Intesar, Mairaj, Arshad, Majeed Kiyani, Sami, Zubair, Shahnazul Huda, Munawwar Hameed, Nasir Zaidi and Waqas.
Last month, the SBCA had distributed notices to the management of private schools situated in the city’s residential areas asking them to shift their branches to “proper designated premises or plots”.
The notice stated that using residential areas to run a business or for any other purposes is illegal; furthermore, any land taken on lease for residential purpose cannot be used commercially. The SBCA directed the management to move such schools within a month.
164 cases lodged
The Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) has registered 164 cases against the builder mafia and contractors for illegal constructions in Karachi.
Director General SBCA Iftikar Kaimkhani, while talking to The News on Friday, said the action had been taken on the orders of the Supreme Court, and a rigorous campaign against the builder mafia would continue.
The cases were registered after the information was provided by the 18 towns of the city. The SBCA demolished hundreds of illegal constructions on Thursday and Friday and issued a warning to the builders to refrain from such illegal constructions.The news.
