CHAKWAL: The community centre built in the city about three years back has finally been opened to public.

Former district nazim Sardar Ghulam Abbas laid the foundation of the community centre on October 2, 2007, and construction was to be completed in 18 months at a cost of Rs29.9 million. But when the project was completed in 2011, the centre failed to attract the attention of the authorities concerned.

Finally in March 2012, the fund-starved district administration found a novel way to utilise the centre.

The then district coordination officer (DCO), Ahmad Aziz Tarar, leased out the centre to an influential trader for Rs451,000 per month.

The community centre was built for the general public so that people, particularly those who could not afford hiring private halls for their functions, could utilise it.

The decision by the then DCO sent a shock wave among the civil society.

The then general secretary of the district bar association, Chaudhry Amjad Hassan, and a civilian Haseeb Khawja filed a write petition with a civil judge against the decision of the DCO in April 2012.

They took the plea that as the centre was built purely for the community; the district government could not run it for commercial purposes.

A few months back, the court ruled in favour of the complainants and directed the district administration to open the centre for the public.

The district administration has fixed Rs20,000 as fee for holding any function at the centre. The centre however lacks basic facilities like electricity and gas.

“We had to arrange a generator as there was no electricity at the centre. The transformer was taken away by thieves a couple of years ago and a new transformer has not been installed yet,” said one of the organisers of a function at the centre.