RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has decided to call a meeting of the Lansdowne Trust to decide the fate of the century-old Odeon Cinema, Cantonment Library and Shah Baloot Park on The Mall.

The meeting will be held at RCB offices, with Station Commander Brig Shahzad Tanveer in the chair. It will discuss new plans to utilise the trust’s land to generate funds.

The RCB has made plans over the last five years to convert the trust’s land for commercial ventures such as shopping mall and a hotel. It failed to do so because the land was allocated to the trust on a lease for recreational and educational purposes under British rule.

The trust was set up by two brothers, Sardar Kirpal Singh Rai Bahadur and Sardar Sujan Singh Rai Bahadur, on Dec 5, 1891, to manage a cinema, library and park on The Mall and provide educational and recreational facilities to residents of Rawalpindi Cantt.

It was established in the name of the Marquess of Lansdowne Lord Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, who was viceroy and governor general of India from 1884 to 1894. The British gave the trust over a hundred kanals.

A senior RCB official told Dawn the board was planning to hire a consultant to make a comprehensive plan for a shopping mall and other commercial structures after razing the old building.

Approval will first be taken from trust members, before advertising for the recruitment of a consultant. The meeting will be held in the first week of November, he said.

The RCB has made various plans over the last seven years, the official added, but has failed to start the project. He said the century-old Odeon Cinema is still closed, while a private cinema owner has been allowed use the name a few yards away in Kohistan Plaza.

He added that the Odeon Cinema was closed, but the newly-constructed cinema was being allowed to run even though it did not seek a licence to screen films from the RCB, which the organisation had turned a blind eye to.

When contacted, RCB spokesperson Qaisar Mehmood confirmed that a meeting of the trust has been called to decide the fate of the 100-year old buildings.

He refused to comment further and said a decision would be announced after the meeting is held. However, he said action has begun against cinemas, particularly those screening movies without a licence.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2018