LAHORE: While the Punjab government is set to commence work on the Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project today — following the Supreme Court’s verdict on Friday — it is planning on completing the project on fast track and opening it by April next year.
However,
members of the civil society who had filed the petition against the
construction of the OLMT have decided to file a review petition and
fight back.
According to official sources, civil works
within the 200-foot radius along all heritage sites will be launched
simultaneously, including the 1.72-kilometre-long and most crucial
underground portion from Jain Mandir to Hall Road-McLeod Road
intersection. “The underground portion requires around eight months to
complete, as it involves massive digging, piling, shuttering, concrete
casing etc. Though the 34 conditions imposed by the Supreme Court have
made the task more difficult, we want this to be complete by mid of
April next,” Project Director and LDA’s Chief Engineer Asrar Saeed told
Dawn on Friday.
On the other hand, members of the civil
society who were petitioners in the case have vowed to continue their
struggle by filing a review petition in the apex court against the SC’s
verdict that set aside the Lahore High Court’s previous decision to halt
civil work within the 200-foot radius of 11 heritage sites under the
Punjab Special Premises (Preservation) Ordinance, 1985 and Antiquity
Act, 1975. The sites where civil works were suspended in the light of
LHC’s decision were Shalamar Gardens, Gulabi Bagh Gateway, Buddhu ka
Awa, Chauburji, Zebunnisa’s Tomb, Lakshmi Building, General Post Office,
Aiwan-i-Auqaf, Supreme Court’s Lahore registry building, St Andrews
Presbyterian Church at Nabha Road and Baba Mauj Darya Bukhari’s Shrine.
Civil society campaigners vow to fight back
The civil society activists warned that Shalamar Gardens and
Lahore Fort might be removed from the list of world heritage sites
because of the apex court’s decision.
“Today we faced
defeat, but we will continue our struggle to save this city,” said Kamil
Khan Mumtaz, chairperson of the Lahore Conservation Society. He was of
the view that the verdict would leave a negative impact on Pakistan in
terms of heritage protection.
The issue regarding
possible danger to protected sites came into the limelight after
construction of the project — 27.1km route from Dera Gujran to Ali Town —
was formally launched. Civil society members raised the issue and
demanded that the project be constructed underground with tunnel boring
machines, while the government stuck to its stance of executing over
25km of the project on an elevated track.
However,
Unesco intervened in October 2015 by writing a letter to its
representatives at the Pakistan National Commission for Unesco to take
up the issue with the Punjab government, and halt work in front of the
Shalamar Gardens.
Last year in March, Unesco asked the
government to submit a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) report along
with other technical studies related to the project in order to discuss
the matter at the 40th World Heritage Committee (WHC) meeting held in
Istanbul from July 10 to 20 this year. Another meeting of Unesco’s WHC
was held the same month in Poland, which civil society activists and
provincial government representatives attended. After the meeting, the
government claimed that they had received a green signal to pass the
train along Shalamar Gardens.
However, the civil society
rejected the government’s stance, stating that the state
representatives had insulted Pakistan at the Unesco’s July 8 session
held in Poland, by not inviting the Reactive Monitoring Mission to visit
the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train project (Shalamar Gardens section)
on the pretext that the case proceedings were pending in the Supreme
Court, and by not submitting a Visual Impact Assessment report of the
scheme to the committee.
“On the pretext of the case
being subjudice, the government is yet to allow the Unesco’s mission to
visit the project despite the fact that they have requested many times.
The government even refused their visas when they applied at their
respective embassies,” deplored Maryam Hussain, one of the activists
fighting the case. “It was a simple issue of a 200-foot radius of the
heritage sites, as no intervention could be made there under the law.
But the court allowed the government to violate this law,” she added.
According
to officials, 79 per cent of civil works on the project is complete
including work accomplished in Package-1. “Fifty per cent work related
to the laying of the track has also been completed by a Chinese company
(CR-Norinko). Grey structures of most stations, except those in the
underground portion, have been completed,” an official of the LDA’s
urban development wing said. He said an emergency meeting of the
project’s steering committee had been scheduled for today (Saturday) to
discuss the conditions set by the SC and to launch civil work along the
heritage sites in line with the court’s verdict as soon as possible.