PESHAWAR, Feb 13: The blind girls and orphans getting education in the Child Welfare Home, Hayatabad, are facing problem of permanent accommodation.

The centre is running an orphanage and an institute for blind girls in a rented building, the Special Education Complex, which belongs to the federal ministry of social welfare and special education.

"At present, 18 blind girls and 50 orphans are enrolled in the welfare home. It is the only institution for blind girls in the province which provides accommodation," said a member of the board of governors of the home.

The institution established in 1981 is still without a permanent building. It also faces lack of facilities and trained teachers. It was closed down in 1998-99 because of lack of funds and reopened in the current building in 2000, a teacher at the welfare home said.

"The building was rented for three years but the institution could not be shifted to its own premises after the period," the teacher said. The blind girls aged five to 15 years face eviction from the building. They residing and take their classes in an upper storey of the building.

The issue was discussed in a meeting of the board of governors recently. The chairperson of the board, Shamim Iftikhar, said special measures should be taken to resolve the accommodation problem of both the institutions.

She said the federal government wanted to take back the building and launch a project for special people there. Machinery worth millions of rupees was lying unused as the project had not been inaugurated due to the reluctance of the NWFP social welfare department, which ran the home, a member of the board said.

Local government officials and District Nazim Azam Afridi requested the federal government to allot a portion of the building to the welfare home. The nazim said that if the government agreed to allot a portion of the building to the welfare home, infrastructural arrangements could be made so that the children would not have to leave the institution.

The chairperson said the board had to make special arrangements for ensuring proper living conditions for the children. According to a member of the board, she said many people were offering to help the orphans.

The board decided to make alteration to accommodate the inmates of the welfare home and the institute in a portion of the Special Education Complex for the time being and hand over its remaining part to the federal government, the member said.