LAHORE - Central Incharge Peoples Labour Bureau (PLB) and member PPPs CEC Ch Manzoor on Tuesday showed his utmost concern over privatisation of 26 premier colleges by the Punjab government, saying it would make education costly for the poor. Addressing a news conference along with PPPs Punjab Deputy Secretary Usman Saleem Malik and office-bearers of PLB and PSF here at a local hotel, the PPP leader read out from a list names of 26 educational institutions, which, he said, are going to be privatised by the government against a sum of Rs 12 billion only. Among the government colleges being sold out by the Punjab government according to Ch Manzoor, the most prominent are: MAO College, Lahore, Murray College, Sialkot, Government College for Science, Wahdat Road, Lahore, Government College Multan, Government College Sahiwal, Government Degree College for Women, Multan, Garden College, Rawalpindi, Islamia College Civil Lines Lahore and Islamia College, Cooper Road, Lahore. The PPP leader announced formation of a Joint Action Committee, comprising representatives of PLB and PSF to chalk out strategy to agitate the issue at different forums. Ch Manzoor asked teachers to continue their on-going protest against the privatisation of colleges. He also expressed his fears about transparency in the process of privatisation of these institutions, saying given their prime location, Rs 12 billion was a little amount. He said it had been documented in the budget the government would earn Rs 12 billion from the sale of educational institutions. He lamented selling out of educational institutions was being planned by a noted leftist Mr Anwar Raja, who, he demanded, should resign if he still had a bit of leftist ideas in his mind. He said after the privatisation of colleges, education would become much costly for the poor, as the new management would make enormous raise in fee which the poor students could not afford to pay. He said these institutions had produced a number of noted parliamentarians, bureaucrats, lawyers and other professionals, most of them belonging to lower strata of the society. He said he had expected a substantial raise in allocation for education in the new budget in the wake of NFC award, but to his astonishment, it had been reduced by 1.26 per cent compared to the last year. He said the Punjab government had allocated Rs 42b for education last year which was 9.25pc of the total budget outlay. Now, he added, the govt had earmarked Rs 52.18 billion for education, but it was 8.99 per cent of the total volume of the budget. If the factors like 10 per cent inflation and 2 per cent raise in population were to be counted then the ratio would go down further, he pointed out with grave concern.