KARACHI, Aug 23: The Karachi Building Control Authority on Monday sealed off the Shikarpuri Market, a building protected under the Sindh Cultural Heritage Protection Act, in order to prevent anyone from causing damage to it.

The tug of war between owners and tenants of the building, going on for the past few weeks, continued on Monday whereas the police team, posted there in the morning to ensure that no part of the building was demolished, left their place of duty as soon as a police official, not posted in the area, arrived at the site in the afternoon.

Interestingly, both the owners and the tenants are insisting that they are heritage lovers and want to protect the site constructed in pre-partition era. They maintain that they would carry out only the work allowed under the relevant law.

The building, constructed with Gizri sandstone with wooden staircase and galleries, stands on plot number SR-13 and is located next to Merewether Tower on M. A. Jinnah Road. The plot measuring approximately 2,500 square yards is valued at Rs250-Rs500 million.

The Act prohibits any sort of construction work at a building protected under the Act and prescribes heavy fines and long prison terms for violators. A prior permission from the Advisory Committee on Cultural Heritage, headed by the provincial chief secretary, is required to be obtained for any such work. In this case, no such permission has been issued.

The ground-plus-two storey building has more than 100 shops and offices built on its premises and, according to the owners, 70 to 80 of them have been vacated.

Talking to Dawn on Monday, the tenants still occupying 20-25 shops/offices insisted that the owners wanted to demolish the building to construct a highrise. The tenants maintain that the main structure is strong but the owners are giving the impression that the building has become dangerous and should be demolished. The tenants appeared ready to carry out minor repairs without violating the prescribed rules if the Sindh Culture Department allowed them to do so.

The tenants accused owners of the building of resorting to highhandedness and subjecting them to harassment in order to get the building vacated. “We don’t want money; we just want to see the heritage building intact and no one of us is dislodged,” said the tenants.

Responding to the Dawn’s queries, Karachi Building Control Authority’s National Heritage Cell chief Manzoor Qadir said that when his staff visited the building a couple of weeks back, some minor demolition work was detected and accordingly reported to the competent authority. The KBCA also issued a notice to the owners asking them to stop all such activities, causing damage to the heritage, forthwith or face legal action.

KBCA area chief Zahid Naeem said that the owners had earlier been directed not to carry out any demolition work without the obligatory NOC. “Today, the building has been sealed off as a precautionary measure so that no further damage is caused to it,” he added.

He said that the KBCA had also written to the Mithadar police station for necessary measures to restrain the owners from violating the Act.

Mr Iqbal Poonawala, owner of the building, insisting that the old building is falling apart due to its dilapidation, acknowledged the KBCA’s directive for necessary permission with regard to his intention of demolishing the building. However, he said, the wood passages and roof, as well as rafters were in a dangerous condition and needed to be removed immediately.

He said he was going to seek the NOC from the Sindh Culture Department and if allowed, would ensure restoration of the prestigious façade of the building. He said he intended to construct a highrise in the backyard of the building for which he would also obtain permission. Such permissions had been given by the department in the case of other heritage buildings, he maintained.

About departure of the police team after a half day posting before arrival of a police official, who happened to be Mr Ponawala’s friend, the latter argued that it was a private property and police were not authorized to have a presence on the premises. Therefore, he said, the police team had been asked to leave.

Pointing out that most of the tenants had already vacated the building after settlement with him, he alleged: “there are a few trouble-makers who had resorted to blackmailing me.”