LAHORE – Grand Palace in the heart of Bangkok, St Paul’s Cathedral, and so many buildings in London and Eiffel Tower in Paris all have one thing in common. They all have great views. Can you imagine a train moving in front of these historical buildings?
Citizen rights activist Babar Anjum told The Nation yesterday after a protest called by the civil society and led by Lahore Bachao Tehreek (LBT) and Lahore Conservation Society (LCS) against the building of Orange Line Metro Train track near the Chauburji historical monument. “Chauburji is one of the most famous monuments of Mughal era. It was built in 1646. Imagine the Orange train on special track like that of Metro Bus blocking its view,” Anjum said.
The protest was staged in front of Chauburji where the construction work for metro train project has begun. The protesters called for changing the train’s route, which will also have impact on the overall view of GPO Lahore (built in 1887), St Andrew’s Church (1860), Shalimar Garden (1641) and Old State Bank Building that is now Supreme Court’s Lahore Registry.
“We are not against the development of any of the government projects but want to keep the heritage sites and monuments safe for the future generations,” Dr Ajaz Anwar said.
“We the citizens of Lahore appreciate the initiative of the government to provide rapid transit systems to the citizens. However the manner in which the Orange Train Project has been planned and is being executed presents serious legal, environmental, social and cultural issues that demand immediate attention,” Convener LBT and General Secretary LCS Imrana Tiwana said.
“This project is in direct violation of the Antiquities Act 1975-Section 22 which explains that "no development plan or scheme or new construction on, or within a distance of 200 feet of a protected immovable antiquity shall be undertaken or executed" and the Punjab Special Premises Preservation Ordinance 1985 explains that "no development plan or scheme or new construction, on or within a distance of 200 feet of a Special Premises shall be undertaken or executed," Imrana added.
She said local communities were being displaced by the project without forewarning and with little or no provision of compensation. People in Jain Mandir, Kapurthala House and Punjab University Town 1,”Imrana said.
“We believe that a democratically elected government is answerable to the people when projects are taken up for their welfare,” minority leader and poet Kanwal Feroze.
Writer Raja Riaz said government should review the project and redesign it with an altered route so that it does not threaten heritage sites, homes and communities.
Rahimul Haq, who is a teacher at FC College, said it was unfortunate why the projects feasibility is not shared with the public before they are started.
“This is not anybody’s personal property but heritage that we all share. Development is welcome but not at cost of heritage,” Farida Batool who teaches at NCA said.
The scribe later visited some of the heritage buildings and found marks on the wall of church, inside GPO and Supreme Court building wall. These marks suggested that these will be demolished or tampered with or perhaps it is some message for the building teams that was not comprehensible otherwise they might have been removed.
The project comprises about 25 kilometres elevated track out of 27.1 km route of the train from Dera Gujran (GT Road) to GPO Chowk. From here onwards for about two kilometres it would be underground uptill Jain Mandar. Then again it would be on elevated track up to Ali Town (Raiwind).