Excavation for Islamabad housing scheme leaves Kurri girls' school exposed
The Federal Directorate of Education says soil has been stripped from three sides of the building, while the housing authority denies the work falls inside its scheme.
ISLAMABAD: A government girls' school in Kurri, on the capital's edge, is standing beside a steep vertical drop after excavation for a nearby housing scheme stripped soil from three sides of the building, the Federal Directorate of Education has warned.
In a letter to the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA), the directorate said an on-site inspection had confirmed that digging linked to the Margalla Orchard Scheme, an FGEHA project being developed with the Defence Housing Authority, had removed ground from around Islamabad Model School for Girls (IMSG), Kurri. Dawn first reported the letter.
The FDE, which runs the school, described the excavation as unscientific and unchecked, saying that the loss of surrounding ground support had left the building in a critical condition.
"With the foundation weakened and perimeter support stripped away, the facility poses an imminent physical threat to the lives of hundreds of young female students, faculty and support staff," the letter said, according to ProPakistani, which reported that it was sent on October 26.
The directorate asked the FGEHA to halt excavation near the school immediately and to carry out structural rehabilitation, including building protective retaining walls and other reinforcement.
FGEHA spokesperson Faiz Ahmed Sial denied the authority's involvement, saying an inspection carried out after the complaint confirmed the school lies outside the boundaries of its scheme. "This issue does not pertain to FGEHA. It is outside our boundaries," ProPakistani quoted him as saying.
Another FGEHA official suggested the FDE may have approached the wrong authority, saying the school could fall inside the adjacent Margalla Enclave project, which the Capital Development Authority is developing with the Defence Housing Authority. "Maybe the school area falls within the CDA scheme, which is adjacent to our scheme, but it certainly does not belong to us and has nothing to do with our Margalla Orchard Scheme," the official said.
The reports carried no public response from the CDA or the DHA to the directorate's letter, and no timeline has been given for a decision on the FDE's request to stop the work.
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