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| June 21, 2003 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 20,1424 |
The Mall widening plan hits snags
RAWALPINDI, June 20: The plan to widen The Mall from three lanes to six lanes has hit snags, it has been learnt.
According to sources, some departments, the land of which fell under the plan, have refused to give the area required for the purpose. This includes a piece of land of Fatima Jinnah University near Kutchehry Chowk. The university administration has so far not shown willingness to part with the land required.
Similar is the case with a piece of land of the commissioner income tax office, and the authorities concerned have also refused to cooperate in this regard. In the same way, a part of MES mess is also needed for road widening.
The cantonment authorities have made several requests to the authorities concerned to provide the land, but nothing has so far been done to reach an agreement.
On the other hand, the National Logistics Cell and the Rawalpindi Development Authority have been vying for the award of the contract, which has given rise to another dispute.
A spokesperson for Fatima Jinnah University said, from Gate 1 to Gate 3, about 10 kanals fell under the road expansion project. “Our department of environmental sciences is located there with a well-established laboratory having costly equipment,” Maryam Rab, deputy registrar of the university, said.
She said the university did not have alternative place to shift the equipment. Giving the land for road expansion will disturb many of the services and facilities being provided to the students. Apart from this, it will also create security problems for the students, she added.
The commissioner income tax office also showed a similar response. “We don’t have much space to give some for the project,” an income tax officer said.
“Not only that we’ll be deprived of our parking facilities, one of our four-storey buildings will have to be partly demolished,” he said.
“The authorities concerned have been informed of the factual position. They should have consulted us before preparing the plan,” he added.
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