BAHAWALPUR: The citizens and civil society have expressed concern over the district administration’s proposed move to establish the terminal of a double-decker bus on the ground of the historical Central Library Bahawalpur.

The Punjab government intends to introduce the double-decker bus service here to promote tourism and facilitate the tourists for sightseeing and visits to historical monuments of Bahawalpur.

Dawn learnt that in pursuance of government’s decision, the administration is looking for a suitable site for setting up its terminal in the city and it has also examined two other sites, namely Dring Stadium and the space in front of the municipal corporation.

Central Library Bahawalpur Chief Librarian Rana Javed Iqbal told Dawn some government officials had inspected the library’ parks a few days back and they had reportedly recommended the land to the Punjab Board of Revenue (BoR) for the bus terminal. He said the ground was spread over about six kanals and the administration wanted to acquire about four kanals, adjacent to the Bahawalpur Museum.

“The library has a treasure of thousands of vintage books, meant for research work for the scholars and students of the universities and medical colleges. The educational atmosphere around the library and museum is friendly for reading and not for the smoke-emitting buses and their unhealthy disturbances around the area,” said Mr Iqbal.

He claimed the director-general Libraries Punjab had also opposed the move to establish a bus terminal on the library premises.

The civil society members and notables, including Malik Habibullah, Khalid Saeed, Dr Zulfiqar Rehmani and Khawaja Sabir Husain, the regional director of the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), also vehemently opposed the proposed move. They pointed it out that the library and its attached land were gifts of the late Nawab of Bahawalpur Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi to the people of Bahawalpur.

According to reports, the late Nawab had donated the land in 1924, only for the library and at a later stage for its expansion. This land, they claimed, according to Nawab’s wish could not be utilised for any other purpose except for the extending of library’s present building and its structure for the general public.

They demanded the administration and the BoR drop the proposal in the larger interest of the general public, students, academics and other educational institutions and select any other land suitable place for the purpose. However, they welcomed the proposed the launch of the double-decker bus service for promotion of tourism in the city, rich in heritage.

They expressed their concerns on the proposed use of the library land for the bus terminal, saying it would pollute the atmosphere.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2020