LAHORE: As the view of Neela Gumbad has become visible for the public at large visiting Anarkali and the surrounding markets, the pace of work on the uplift project of the area has been accelerated with deployment of more labourers to carry out work round the clock.

On the other hand, Punjab’s senior minister Ms Maryam Aurangzeb has called for an urgent meeting today (Friday) to review the progress for the early completion of the project. The project aims to restore Neela Gumbad and three other heritage sites -- Deori leading to the Gumbad, the building of first bank of India and the old hostel building of the FC college called the Ewing Hall.

“The Neela Gumbad structure is very visible now after the teams of the Traffic Engineering & Transport Planning Agency (Tepa) demolished a number of structures built there and hiding its visibility since long,” Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Director General Tahir Farooq said while talking to Dawn on Thursday.

According to him, the façade uplifting and restoration of the Gumbad and three other heritage sites would be carried out by the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) in close coordination of the Lahore Authority for Heritage Revival (LAHR). “A meeting to review progress in this regard has also been summoned by the senior minister on Friday (today). In this meeting, the WCLA will be asked about the start and completion of the restoration-related works. We will brief about the progress on the ongoing construction of the parking plaza and the demolition works,” he explained.

Tepa hopes to complete parking plaza by June

Talking to Dawn, Tepa Chief Engineer Iqrar Hussain said that the pace of the construction-related work on the parking plaza and the demolition of the Auqaf department-owned structures had been accelerated. At present, he said, 18pc work on the parking plaza and 80pc demolition-related jobs had been completed. “Though we have one year time to complete the parking plaza, we will try our best to complete it by June next year,” he said. The restoration of the Gumbad and other heritage sites would soon begin, he added.

The total cost of the parking plaza project was Rs2.451 billion with a ground floor with three basements equipped with drainage, electrical, plumbing, fire-fighting equipment, ventilation, parking management & CCTV, lift and roads infrastructure.

The Tepa chief, to a question, said that the uplifting of the adjacent mosque, which had also been built after some years of the Neela Gumbad, was also under consideration.

Talking to Dawn, WCLA spokesperson Tania Qureshi said the authority had been assigned the task to restore Neela Gumbad and other heritage sites in the area. “At present, Tepa is working on the site and above ground restoration of the Gumbad and other sites is assigned to the WCLA,” the spokesperson commented.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2025