January 29, 2003	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 25,1423

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 28: The cost of Bari Imam shrine uplift project, prepared by the development committee of the shrine, has escalated by over 700 per cent owing to a long delay in its execution.

According to a revised estimate, the cost has gone up to Rs300 million from Rs40 million.

An official of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) told Dawn that the project was first approved in 1978 with an estimated cost of Rs40 million, which had been revised four times during the last 24 years.

Under the uplift plan, the old structure of the shrine was to be replaced by a new one, and a mosque had to be constructed, besides the completion of the concrete floor of the shrine’s compound.

A resident of Noorpur Shahan, where the shrine is located, told Dawn that due to faulty planning, the shrine building had lost its originality.

He complained that some years ago, the development committee had decided to close a spring in the shrine. The spring, as the legend goes, was dug up by Hazrat Bari Sarkar hundreds of years ago. The devotees used to take bath with the spring water for cure against different diseases.

The local residents said the development committee had tried a number of times afterwards to revive the spring, but to no avail. They also complained about poor condition of lavatories in the shrine. They said these lavatories had not been linked with septic tanks and, as result, sewage was spilled into Rawal Dam.

They also complained that local residents were not inducted in the development committee of the shrine.

An action committee of Noorpur Shahan, in a letter to President Gen Pervez Musharraf, has called for directing the authority concerned to induct locals into the development committee of the shrine, a member of the action committee, Tanveer Shah, told Dawn.

The action committee complained that no local MNA was member of the development committee of the shrine, affecting the spirit of the devolution plan, under which the local people had the right to participate in the development work of their area.