PESHAWAR, July 21: The Federal Department of Archaeology is in a dispute with the Peshawar city district government over the establishment of a park in Tehsil Gor Khuttree, a protected site in the old city.

The archaeology department has complained that the City Development and Municipal Department (CDMD), a planning body, had started construction work in the premises of the monuments without getting approval from the director-general’s office.

Archaeologists believe that the development schemes are a threat to the structure.

The concerned department has lodged a complaint with the capital city police against the contractor. The ongoing controversy between the two departments has put the police department in trouble for being unable to take action against the company.

The CDMD is constructing a park on the site of Gor Khuttree, a monument from Buddha’s period in the old city. The government has allocated Rs20 million for the scheme and the contract has been given to a private company.

Simultaneously, the archaeology department has executed conservation work on the western gate of the monument which is on the verge of collapse.

The archaeology department has declared Gor Khuttree a protected site under the Antiquities Act 1975. Section 22 of the act says: “Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, no development plan or scheme or new construction on, or within a distance of two hundred feet of a protected immovable antiquity shall be undertaken or executed accept with the approval of the director-general”.

The archaeology department officials said that the CDMD has violated the Act and did not get permission from the DG office.

An official told Dawn that the sub-regional office of the archaeology department had lodged a complaint with the C-Division Police Station against the construction company to stop civil work at the site immediately.

However, the concerned police station expressed ignorance about the complaint.

The officials said that the archaeology department was not against the creation of a recreational park, but they do not want the monument to be affected in this way. The design of the project poses a serious threat to the centuries-old monument, they added.

Besides archaeology department, the park has left Unesco also worried. It is learnt that Unesco’s country-manager and programme officer had conveyed their feelings about the park in Gor Khuttree to the minister of archaeology, and have asked him to take steps to protect the monument.