Cracks, crumbling ceilings and no evacuation | The Express Tribune
Key Takeaways
- The Government Degree Girls College Green Belt building is structurally unsafe with visible damage, posing a serious risk to nearly 700 students and staff.
- Evacuation is delayed due to a bureaucratic dispute between the college administration and the College Education Department's Works and Services Wing.
- A proposed temporary relocation to a college in Azam Basti failed due to verbal resistance from the receiving institution's administration.
- The Regional Director of Colleges confirmed the danger and noted the building's foundation is complicated by being built over a stormwater drain.
- Despite urgent letters from the Works Department in late August and early September advising immediate evacuation, the building remains occupied.
The Government Degree Girls College Green Belt in Mehmoodabad, which falls under the Sindh College Education Department, is in a severely dilapidated and structurally unsafe condition, featuring widespread cracks and collapsing ceiling portions. Despite repeated formal warnings from the Works and Services Department urging immediate evacuation to protect nearly 700 enrolled students and staff, meaningful action has been prevented by a bureaucratic tug of war. A potential temporary relocation plan was thwarted when the administration of the proposed site in Azam Basti verbally resisted the move, causing a stalemate. The Regional Director of Colleges confirmed the danger, noting the building's precarious position over a stormwater drain, and criticized the Works Department for improper communication protocol. Soil samples are now being tested to inform a final relocation decision, but for now, the college continues to operate in the hazardous structure, leaving hundreds of lives at risk.
