RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) and Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) have failed to ensure the implementation of building bylaws and allocation of parking space in commercial buildings in the city areas.

There is no space for parking in commercial buildings as its owners have converted the basements into shops. More than 80 per cent of commercial buildings in Raja Bazaar, College Road, Liaquat Road, Commercial Market and Murree Road have been constructed without any parking area.

Apart from this, there are no fire safety measures in the commercial buildings, especially in the downtown areas. The narrow streets in Raja Bazaar always witness rush and there are fire safety measures.

“All commercial plazas on College Road deal in garments and other material from China and their owners have failed to allocate space for parking. On Murree Road, no space has been allocated in front of commercial buildings and basements and visitors have to park their vehicles on the roadsides,” said a senior official of RMC.

Non-allocation of parking space creates traffic gridlocks in downtown areas of Rawalpindi

He said that the building departments of RMC and RDA did not check the bylaws due to political pressure from the ruling party’s local leaders. Mostly the commercial plazas were constructed in areas where the ruling party got maximum votes in the 2024 general elections.

He said that in thickly-populated areas of Raja Bazaar, Bara Market, Moti Bazaar, not a single shopping mall had installed fire safety measures or allocated space for the parking.

However, a senior official of the district administration said that it was the responsibility of the RMC and RDA to ensure the implementation of the bylaws and take action against the buildings.

“It is the duty of the civic body to implement the rules and regulations made for the safety of the people. But, it is also responsibility of shopkeepers to implement the rules for safety of their investment as well as lives of the visitors,” he said.

He said that mostly plazas were constructed before the new building bylaws were formulated. But now we are not allowing any construction of any building without fire safety measures.

When contacted, District Emergency Officer Sibghatullah said the RDA and RMC were responsible for implementing the building bylaws and ensuring fire safety measures. Rescue 1122 checks high-rise buildings of more than 50 feet and above, while Civil Defence is responsible for the remaining commercial outlets.

However, he said some multi-storey buildings had more than two or three owners and the rescue authorities failed to hold one person responsible for negligence regarding fire safety measures.

When approached, RDA spokesman Mohammad Irfan said the RDA was responsible to implement building bylaws in 13 housing schemes and its commercial areas and in this regard it was taking action regularly.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2025