RAHIM YAR KHAN: The project of the new surgical tower of the Shaikh Zayed Medical College Hospital (SZMCH) is going on but at the cost of playgrounds of the city`s largest school the Government Pilot Secondary School.

The civil work for the surgical tower of the hospitalhas been in progressfor the last two years at the land of old district headquarters hospital and the old Mehmood Stadium.

For the construction work, the contractor RMS (Pvt) Limited installed the first concrete batching plant (CBP) at the land of the old DHQ hospital land while second was installed at the hockey and football grounds of the Government Pilot Secondary School allegedly without getting permission of the competent authorities and Environment Protection Agency (EPA).

Mirza Sajid Baig, a former PML-N councilor from the neighbouring locality of the pilot school, claimed he has complained to the deputy commissioner (DC) as well as the school principal about the plant which was producing not only dust but noise pollution also. He says that since the installation of the plant, the students of the Pilot School, Government Senior Muslim Girls High School and the residents of Muslim Colony, Odh Colony and Satellite Town, touching the boundary walls of the huge school, have started having pulmonary problems. He alleges that the influential contractor did not bother about the health issues of the locals and alsodumped heaps of soil at the playgrounds of the school.

Principal Pilot School Asghar Shahab says the DC, chief executive officer (CEO) of the district education Authority (DEA) and the SZMCH principal visited the playgrounds of the school three times. Later, he goes on to say, multiple meetings of the school management committee (SMC) were also held to allow the installation of the plant, which is yet to be operational. He says the contractorhasgotthisspaceforonetothree years at the rate of Rs400,000 per annum while the contractor will also provide the financial support for the basic development works at the school.

However, according to the contractor firm, the firm will construct all the roads of the pilot school only if the material remains in stock after the completion of SZMCH civil work.

The principal criticises the local councilor, alleging that he had suggested a large garbage filth depot along theboundary wall of the school after getting permission from the DC, which was producing bad stink constantly.

DEA Chief Executive Officer Aslam Ijaz says the principal will face the inquiry under the PEEDA Act because he has no authority to provide the school premises to any person or department.

He says the actual authorities for the provision of school grounds for use by the contractor are the secretary school education department and the secretary specialised healthcare and medical edu-cation. He says that the principal of the pilot school being the custodian of the institution is guilty of providing the school land to the SZMCH contractor.

SZMCH Principal Prof Dr Saleem Leghari informs this scribe that he had requested the DC for provision of the landrequired for the CBP and the DC had recommended three sites for itthe grounds of Government Khwaja Fareed College, Government Pilot Secondary School and Government Agriculture Institute but the pilot school grounds were finalised. He says now the contractor will provide technical support for repair of the roads of the school.

RMS Contractors Senior Engineer Muhammad Asif says the plant was installed after the permission of all authorities concerned, including the DC, principals of the SZMCH and Pilot School, CEO of the DEA and DO Education.

He says the firm followed only the instructions of the principal SZMCH and startedthe concretebatchingplant, which had been functional since April 2023. After the completion of the SZMCH civil work, the firm will construct all the roads inside the pilot school, if the material remains in stock.

EPA Assistant Director Aamir Rehmani says when his team visited the site of the CBP, the school principal did not permit the team to examine it.

However, the EPA will implement all the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the environment protection; otherwise, the contractor will not be allowed to operate the plant.

`The health of any citizen would not be compromised at any cost,` Rehmani stresses. DC Shakeel Ahmed Bhatti did not reply to the repeated calls from Dawn to get his version.