RAWALPINDI: Already a hub of traditional cuisine, a street in Karturpura will now be declared a ‘food street’ where twin cities’ residents will be provided facilities such as seating and parking space.

Most of the garrison city’s food streets have developed with time, including the traditional food street in Kartarpura.

There are also many food outlets in Kashmiri Bazaar and Bhabara Bazaar, but these are nestled amongst goldsmiths, fabric and brass and steel utensil stores and are not attached to each other.

Deputy commissioner and PHA chairman visit area and ask horticulture officials to make a plan to launch project

The main Kartarpura street also has many outlets to offer that sell traditional cuisine, from nihari to chanay, naan and parathas, as well as barbeque and fried fish. This street sees visitors from morning to night, mostly for nihari and sri paya.

Deputy Commissioner Chaudhry Mohammad Ali Randhawa and Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) Chairman Asif Mehmood visited the area and asked horticulture officials to make a comprehensive plan to launch the project as soon as possible.

Mr Mehmood had proposed the idea to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, who approved it.

The district official then visited the site to see whether it had the capacity to be converted into a food street.

Mr Randhawa told Dawn the district administration has no objection in bringing all traditional food outlets at one place.

He said there are many such outlets in the area, but the administration will provide parking and seating arrangements.

“We are considering making it a pedestrian street during Ramazan,” he added.

Once it is declared a food street, Mr Randhawa said, the district administration will ensure the provision of health food there. All stakeholders will be taken on board before a decision is made, he added.

Mr Mehmood said the PHA would also suggest two more food streets, in Commercial Market, Satellite Town.

He said PHA experts will also devise a plan to beautify the Kartarpura food street in keeping with traditional Potohar culture and history.

He said a week-long spring festival will start in the city on April 21, called Jashan-i-Rawalpindi, to highlight the culture of the Potohar region, which was arranged by the authority.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2019