KARACHI: The Pakistan Railways is carrying out demolition work at the historical building of the City Railway Station protected under the Sindh Cultural Heritage (Preservation) Act 1994 in violation of the law, Dawn has learnt.

A staircase, that was attached with the building from outside and used by people to approach the upper floor/roof of the building, has been demolished.

When Dawn visited the strong sandstone building, which now looked to be in a worn-out condition, a heap of debris could been seen lying on the road along the building and a few labourers were busy putting it on a tractor trolley so that it could be disposed of.

Responding to Dawn’s queries, a Railways staffer overseeing the demolition work said that a few structures from the building were to be demolished to widen the road.

He said that the “improvement work” was being carried out on the orders of the top Railways’ management.

Sources said that nobody, including the owner, could demolish or carry out any construction, repair, restoration, rehabilitation, etc, work on the premises protected under the act, which prescribed long prison terms and heavy fines for violators.

Prior permission is to be obtained from the Advisory Committee on Cultural Affairs, which is headed by the chief secretary, before any such construction activity at a protected site is carried out.

Anybody wishing to carry out any work on a protected property has to apply to the Sindh culture department for permission. The department sends the application to the advisory committee which then sends it to the technical committee which evaluates the proposal and gives recommendations to the advisory committee which takes the decision to allow or disallow it. The decision is then conveyed to the applicant by the culture department.

Responding to Dawn’s queries, Farida Ghaffar, a member of the technical committee that evaluates any request, proposal or suggestion to get permission for carrying out any work on a protected premises, confirmed that the City Railway Station building, located off McLeod Road (now known as I.I. Chundrigar Road) was protected under the Sindh Cultural Heritage (Preservation) Act 1994 and it was mentioned at serial number “1997-299” in the list of protected premises.

She said that while the act did not allow demolition of a protected building, the technical committee had also not received/evaluated any proposal for repairs, etc, on the City Railway Station building and that no such permission had been issued to anybody.

Carrying out any kind of construction work, without permission, was illegal, she added.

Responding to Dawn’s queries, Pakistan Railways Karachi Divisional Superintendent Nisar Memon conceded that the railways did not have the NOC/permission from the culture department for carrying out any construction/demolition work on the historic City Station building as, according to him, at the present stage the NOC/permission was not required.

He said that currently only a staircase, which was “not a part of the original building” but had been added later on, had been demolished. He said that once the additions done to the original historical building were removed, a comprehensive plan to restore/rehabilitate the historical building would be prepared after which the required NOCs/permissions would be obtained before starting that work, he added.

He said that the City Railway Station building would also be restored/rehabilitated on the pattern of the historic Cantonment Railway Station, which after the restoration/rehabilitation work done presented a pleasing look.

Replying to a question about whether the culture department’s NOC/permission to carry out the work on the Cantonment Station had been obtained before the start of the work on that historical building, also protected under the Sindh Cultural Heritage (Preservation) Act, Mr Memon said that a nongovernmental organisation had assisted the Railways in the restoration work and, though he did not know, the NGO must have obtained all required NOCs/permissions from relevant organisations/government bodies before starting the work.

Constructed during the British Raj, the City Railway Station building was the terminus of the railways in the city and was a major railway station that served the civilian population coming from the upcountry areas to the metropolis.

People residing in the city centre, its main business districts, old city areas like Mithadar, Kharadar, Lyari, etc used this station. The other station being the Cantonment Railway Station served mostly the English population, government officials, troops and elite of the city during the pre-partition days.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2017