Bashir Tariq
LAHORE - When you plan a project, you keep in mind many, if not all, future requirements of all those for whom you have planned that venture. You give a careful thinking to whether the undertaking would really improve the lives of people you’ve designed your project for; whether the targeted population was selected properly and how efficiently it would be implemented. Each is a link in the chain that translates a project into concrete action on the ground.
For example, when the colonial lords were planning to give the ancient city of Lahore it’s The Mall, they were definitely thinking about what shape it would look like when got completed. They knew for sure that The Mall was going to be one of the city’s main roads, which it is. They also recognised the fact that it would stand as one of the most famous roads of the city in all times to come, which, again, is a fact. Today, The Mall holds significant historical and cultural value, as most of the buildings lining the road are a collection of Mughal and colonial-era architecture, though there are a few ‘local’ additions too. But overall the theme was a futuristic endeavour.
Buildings or monuments of historical and/or recreational significance on The Mall include Aitchison College, Aiwan-e-Iqbal, Alhamra Arts Council, Bagh-e-Jinnah (Lawrence Gardens), Government College Lahore (now University), Governor’s House, Lahore Museum, Lahore Stock Exchange, Lahore Zoo, Masonic Temple, National College of Arts, Punjab Assembly Building, Sacred Heart Cathedral, St. Anthony’s College, Punjab University (Old Campus), Wapda House and Kim’s Gun (Zamzama Gun).
Now stop sucking in air for a moment and think only about the road’s width. Also think about the time when it was built. (Over a hundred years ago when, perhaps, no one would have needed such a majestic Mall at a time when a few cars were there and only affordable luxury people could enjoy were Buggies and Tongas.) You will immediately find a spasm (or call it lack of correspondence) about the palatial thinking of the British rulers. Just when you were busy cursing the Goras (Brits), I ask you to place yourself in the present moment. Are we not enjoying today the big returns of a big British judgement vis-à-vis The Mall? The road laid in the British-era will most probably be enough for many more future needs and desires.
Now I request you to visit, at least mentally if not possible physically, the under-construction Canal Road project. Started a few months ago after a many hiccups, the project is going at a phantom pace. Workers are busy day and night to get it completed in the stipulated time. And no doubt they will succeed. The endeavour, however, misses few vital planning ingredients and involves a cost: The new road has a few compromises -- ditches, depressions, dips, dimples and dents here and there.  The brain behind the beautiful iron railing — erected along both sides of the canal — somewhat lacks wisdom because the long stretch, spanning miles and miles of run (distance), has no ‘doors’. While the make-up of the fence is going on, some other authorities have started desilting of the canal. The silt, surely, had to be deposited on the banks of the canal. The same is being done these days: The tractors busy in desilting are using their mammoth blades to throw away the sludge on the banks of the canal. But what is missing in this action is wisdom again: The newly-laid footpaths, decorated with strikingly-beautiful bricks are becoming the ‘pit’ for depositing the sediments. On many areas of footpath-stretches the whole of footpath, along with all the railing and accessories, have been buried under monds of earth.
Desilting, as we all know, has become a yearly feature as far as the City Canal is concerned. Tractors go in and come out during the process. There must have been passages for these machines to enter and exit the canal, which are not there. One wonders how the tractors went in. How will they come out of the canal is another wonder? Now another effort will be needed to clear the railing and the footpaths of the monds of earth deposited there. This will, again, need some extra bucks. From where will the extra money come? Who will be burdened now? Why the picking of the sludge was made part of the plan? Will we ever be able to execute a futuristic plan? One can only say, well done our bosses!