LAHORE, Aug 17: The Parks and Horticulture Authority has neither removed the lights installed on the back wall of the Badshahi Mosque nor has it developed so far the “walking street” (for which these lights had been installed and the mosque defaced).

The PHA has spent over Rs17 million on the renovation of the Fort Road, and installation of lights on the Badshahi Mosque, the Roshni Gate, the Hazoori Bagh, the Smadhi of Ranjit Singh and other buildings over there to illuminate the street.

But now the authority seems to be reluctant to ask the locals to develop the street by establishing their businesses. Castigated by the general public for establishing the walking street near the red-light area, the PHA has kept a mum over the matter.

After the success of the food street at Gowalmandi and the Tourist Street at the Old Anarkali, the PHA hastened to establish another street on the Fort Road without envisaging that the site selection might invite public criticism. It even did not bother to consult the federal or provincial archaeology departments about installing lights on the monuments for illuminating the street.

Although the authority has refused to patronize the walking street, it seems to be least interested in removing the lights from the Badshahi Mosque’s back wall either.

A committee, which was constituted in the first week of May by the provincial government to assess damage done to the mosque, has yet to come up with any practical solution to the problem.

One of the committee members from the federal archaeology department has gone abroad for training. Also the auqaf department chief administrator to whom the committee had to submit its report is not present in the country.

The PHA had installed the lights without the permission of the auqaf department, which is responsible for the repairs and maintenance of historical mosques and shrines in the province. The authority has also violated the Punjab Special Premises and Preservation Ordinance 1985 and the Federal Archaeology Antiquity Act 1975.

According to archaeologists in the federal and provincial archaeology departments, red-sand stone is prone to effects of climate and the holes drilled for the lights will widen with the passage of time, especially by rainwater. “Its effects will not appear right now, but surely after a decade.”

They suggest that the PHA should have erected a parallel pole along the Badshahi Mosque to provide support to the lights or fix these in the joints of the mosque’s wall. The officials suggest that the government instead of constituting committees on such issues to determine the future course of action should immediately undo the work.

The PHA authorities concerned also turned a deaf ear to the suggestions of the senior archaeologists of the provincial department to remove the lights before the start of monsoon.

It is learnt that the PHA wanted to install lights in the same fashion at the Lahore Fort, but it was stopped from doing so. The authority, however, fixed the lights on the ground or erected parallel poles along the Roshni Gate, the Hazoori Bagh and the Smadhi of Ranjit Singh.

When contacted, PHA Director-General Shabbir Ahmad expressed his ignorance about the installation of lights. About the future of the walking street, he said, the authority was reviewing the plan.

However, a PHA official said the authority had completed the street, but it would not interfere with its development. “The residents of the area will set up businesses by themselves in the walking street.”

Out of Rs17 million spent on the project, a sum of Rs8.2 million has been spent on the installation of lights at the Badshahi Mosque, the Lahore Fort, the Hazoori Bagh and the Smadhi of Ranjit Singh to illuminate the walking street.

A sum of Rs5.2 million has been spent on the road infrastructure from the Ali Park to the De’Montmorency College of Dentistry where footpaths were dismantled and replaced with walkways built with small tiles. Sit-out areas with 15 to 18 feet width were provided along the road.

As many as 56 buildings, along the Fort Road, were upgraded in accordance with the requirements of the walking street. This cost Rs4.5 million.