Photo: Express
Karachi: Board of Higher Secondary Education Karachi has apparently handed over its playground named Bakhtiari Youth Center adjacent to the board to a government department for construction without the approval of the competent authority and without any agreement, no formal or legal action has been taken in this regard.
According to reports, the construction of this playground and sports complex is now being started, but nothing has been done regarding the formal and legal agreements and documents exchanged between the two government institutions in this regard.
The board administration has handed over its playground spread over hundreds of acres of land, but the administration is not even aware of how the sports complex is being built here, what is its building map, how many storeys will it be, what sports are being played in the sports complex. Facilities will be provided, how much land will be worked for the complex and in how much time this sports complex will be handed over to Interboard Karachi after construction.
On what conditions the Sindh government department is constructing this complex, after construction, will it be given to the board or not returned, these are the questions that neither the administration of the board nor the construction of the sports complex have the answers to. In this regard, Interboard Karachi has fixed some kind of TORs (Term of Reference) with the concerned department.
It should be noted that Bakhtiari Youth Center is an asset of Higher Secondary Education Board Karachi and according to the rules of the Board any major decision is approved by the Board of Governors, and the meeting of the Board of Governors is held at least twice a year in which Such issues are brought to the agenda and discussed and members are briefed on the relevant agenda. However, nothing has happened in this case and Interboard Karachi has no approval in this regard.
In this regard, “Express” contacted Director of Sports of Higher Secondary Education Board Karachi Tariq Abrar and asked him what is being constructed on the board’s playground and to which institution this land has been handed over, to which he said that we have given this land. It has not been handed over to us, it has been given to the Karachi mega project, which will build a sports complex there.
On the question of “Express” whether it has been approved or an agreement has been made with any relevant department and on what conditions the land has been handed over and the sports complex is being built, he said that the approval has not been done and not at present. Agreement has been reached. Yes, we will soon make an agreement with the concerned department.
On the inquiry of “Express” why the land was handed over before the agreement and how the work was started, the director of sports said that he can get more details by asking the chairman board, but he knows that a letter was written during the time of the former chairman in which We ourselves had expressed our desire to build a sports complex here.
It should be noted that the extreme of unplanned and unprofessional behavior of Interboard Karachi is that if this sports complex is handed over to the board after construction, on what basis and how to run it, the board does not have any strategy for this, nor in this regard. A budget has been earmarked for the development of a future sports complex. Interbird authorities do not even know who will do its maintenance and how it will be done.
According to the information received from “Express”, in the middle of this year, the local government project of the government of Sindh issued an advertisement for the tender for the construction of the sports complex in Bakhtiari Youth Center and the tender was to be submitted by June 6.
However, the board was also indifferent to this tender advertisement and a few days ago the construction work was also started here and a few days before that on May 16, the management of Inter Board Karachi wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs and asked for the cricket ground in Bakhtiari Youth Center. Recommended to construct other facilities including track and gymnasium.
It is noteworthy that on the other hand, the inter-board administration writes a letter to the department and on the other hand, within a few days, an advertisement for calling for tenders is also issued in the newspaper. It was being done under and the thing was fixed.
On the other hand, there is a contradiction in the information and statements of the board authorities in this regard, which shows the seriousness of the matter and the non-commitment of the board to its own property.
“Express” contacted Prof. Naseem Memon, who assumed the post of Chairman Higher Secondary Education Board Karachi about three months ago, and inquired in this regard. Tuan said that this sports complex is being constructed by the Sindh Government as the Department of Sports and Culture. It is in the Hyderabad Department. has also built a similar complex in the school, so we have a good experience. When this information was put before me, I did not refuse.
However, he also remained silent on the questions asked regarding the approval of the Board of Governors, TORs, completion of the project, its cost, characteristics and other details.
He said that these objections are valid and we will make an agreement. On the question of how certain it is that the sports complex will be handed over to the board after construction as there is no agreement and no working paper has been submitted to the board of governors. Its chairman board could not give any satisfactory answer.
On the other hand, when “Express” sought an opinion from a senior officer of HEC regarding how HEC provides such facilities in the universities, the concerned officer said that the universities are not allowed in sports. Funds are provided, construction related matters are done by universities themselves.
Mentioning the boxing court to be built in Lyari University and other universities, the officer said that this proposal comes from the universities, after approval we release the funds in stages, the construction is done by the concerned institution itself.
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