RAWALPINDI: The Rawal Town Municipal Administration (RTMA) has lodged complaints with the local police against the owners of 153 dangerous buildings in different areas of the town as they are not vacating the buildings during monsoon despite warnings.

Among 153 buildings, more than 67 buildings are too dangerous as the RTMA engineers feared that they would collapse in the wake of earthquake or other natural calamities.

Most of the dangerous buildings are located in Ratta Amral, Mohanpura, Raja Bazaar, Bhabara Bazaar, Purana Qila, Mohallah Shah Chan Chiragh, Sarafa Bazaar, Mochi Bazaar, Narankari Bazaar, Moti Bazaar, Jamia Masjid Road and adjoining areas.

Every year, the building owners are served notices to vacate the buildings before the monsoon season.

However, after the monsoon season is over, the administration does not press the people for some repair work on these buildings.

A senior official of the RTMA told Dawn that as many as 153 buildings were dangerous and it would create problems for other buildings in the narrow streets of the downtown.

“This year we have sought the local police help to get the buildings vacated,” he said.

He said the local police had been asked to register cases against the owners who were not obeying the directives of the building department of the civic body.

He said that the RTMA did not have any mandate to provide alternative residences to the people residing in the buildings.

He said every year they intimated the people about the danger looming over them.

He said a list of 300 dangerous building had now been reduced to 153 after the survey of buildings in 46 union councils of the town.

On the other hand, Mohammad Jamil, a resident of a dangerous building at Mochi Bazaar, said the people residing in the buildings had no other alternative place.

“It will be difficult for them to vacate the house as the traders will grab the land. Due to commercial importance of the area, many people used unfair means with the help of RTMA officials to declare the buildings dangerous so that the owner should sell it at a throwaway price,” he said.

Javed Siddiqui, a resident of Bhabara Bazaar, said in each house more than two families resided as it was allotted to two families after the partition and the matter was in the courts so no one was interested in leaving the place until the court gave its decision either way.

He said the old buildings were strong enough to withstand any natural calamity as they were constructed with quality material.

Muhammad Saddique, a resident of Mohanpura, said the PML-N city president Sardar Naseem, who is Union Council Chairman, had assured the affected people that the RTMA would not take action against them.

“If the RTMA officials come to raze the buildings, the people of the area will resist them,” he warned.

When contacted, Rawal Town Administrator Nazia Parveen Sudhan admitted that they had sought the police help.

“We have been asked by the government to take action against the dangerous buildings to avoid any mishap during monsoon,” she said.

However, she admitted that there was no policy to provide alternative residences to the residents of the dangerous buildings.

“We had limited resources and such decisions will be made by the provincial government,” she said.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2016