MULTAN, Dec 24: The local institute of handloom and textile technology is being given the status of an engineering college on the direction of the Punjab governor in order to impart higher education in the field to the youth of south Punjab.

Multan DCO Muhammad Ijaz Chaudhry stated this while presiding over a meeting here on Wednesday to discuss modalities to elevate the status of the institute that was established in 1997 with the funding of the Export Promotion Bureau.

Bahauddin Zakariya University vice-chancellor Dr Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry and industrialist and city tehsil nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar were also present at the meeting held at the committee room of the DCO office.

The DCO said the governor, during his recent visit, had visited the institute and later on directed that it be made an engineering college to promote textile education in the area which was the second largest centre of textile industry in the province after Faisalabad.

He informed the meeting that the governor had directed to make the proposed Multan textile engineering college well-equipped with modern tools of education in textile sector.

It was decided that help would be sought from the All-Pakistan Textile Mills Association and All Pakistan Bedsheet and Upholstery Manufacturers Association to upgrade the institute. It was also further decided to seek guidance to prepare course syllabi of the proposed college from the College of Textile Engineering, Faisalabad.

The proposed textile college would be affiliated with the BZU. The principal of the institute, Sheikh Nazeer Ahmed, said a meeting of the board of trustees of the institute was scheduled to be held on Dec 26 and the matter of its uplift would be discussed in it.