ISLAMABAD-The Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad has decided to close all parks, zoo and weekly bazaars due to Coronavirus.
The decision was taken by the Mayor Islamabad Sheikh Anser Aziz late night at Saturday with the consultation of concerned formations.
The decision came after the emergency like situation announced by federal government to counter the virus spread in the country.
The parks including Lake View, Daman-e-Koh, Shakarparian, and F-9 and Marghazar Zoo remained closed on Sunday. However, the weekly bazaars would be closed from next Tuesday.
The Mayor of Islamabad said that the decision was taken to protect citizens from the virus.
The recreational spots would remain closed till further orders while the MCI officials were put on high alert to tackle any emergency situation.
Meanwhile, the wedding halls in the city also refused to arrange any function in implementation of the government decision.
They are also refunding the advance dues submitted by citizens for bookings of their functions.
According to Capital Development Authority list of marquees and weeding halls, there are more than 70 marquees and wedding halls in capital. Around 30 functions were booked in each Marquee till 5th April 2020.
When contacted, some of the owners of marquees criticised the way of implementing the government decision by the Islamabad district management.
They were of the view that the administration should at least provide a day or two in implementing the decision as functions were scheduled on the very next day.
An owner on the condition of anonymity briefed that cooked food worth millions of rupees became useless because of the poor management of district administration.
On the other side, the citizens also faced difficulties in sudden ban imposed and according to details three marquees were forced to cancel the functions on Saturday in E-11.
Resultantly, according to eye witnesses, the functions were held on green belt while nikkah ceremonies were held in a nearby mosque.
According to details, a huge gathering was witnessed in shopping malls i.e. Centaurus, Safa Gold Mall and Monal as it becomes fully crowded in evenings due to closure of rest of the points in the city.
Citizen urged to close them as well if the administration wants to implement the decision in letter and spirit.
The scribe tried to contact Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Hamza Shafqat for comments but he was unavailable.