KARACHI: Work on the Clifton flyover and underpasses has damaged the historic Jahangir Kothari Parade, which is protected under the Sindh Cultural Heritage Protection Act, it emerged on Monday.
Sources said the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) had not even obtained the permission from the Sindh culture department to carry out the construction — which was being funded by real estate firm Bahria Town to facilitate access to a high-rise building being constructed by it in the vicinity — but no punitive action had been taken by the culture department against the violator.
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The sources said nobody, including the owner, could carry out any construction at the site protected under the act that prescribed long prison terms and heavy fines for violators. The repair, restoration and rehabilitation work at the protected site could be carried out only after the advisory committee on cultural affairs, headed by the chief secretary, gave its permission or issued a no-objection certificate, they added.
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An advisory committee member said permission/ NOC was required to carry out work at the Clifton heritage site. “No NOC has been issued for this project,” he added.
A top official of the culture department was not available to comment on the issue, while the KMC official promised he would respond after going through the relevant record that he never did.
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According to the sources, if anybody wants to carry out any repairs, restoration, rehabilitation work at a protected heritage site he has to apply to the culture department. The application is then sent to the advisory committee that forwards it to its technical committee.
After evaluating the proposal, the technical team sends its recommendations to the advisory committee which takes a decision on it and informs the culture department. The applicant is finally informed by the culture department about the permission for the proposed work.
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The sources said the permission could be sought for the repairs, restoration or rehabilitation purposes of the historic structure only and the advisory committee does not consider / give permission for ‘damaging the protected structure’.
A portion of the 300-metre-long Jahangir Kothari Parade, between the Promenade Pavilion and Lady Lloyd Pier that is very near to the temple, has been dug up / damaged owing to the extensive and deep excavation done to accommodate the underpasses.
Responding to Dawn queries, advisory committee member Arif Hassan briefly said: “A permission or an NOC from the advisory committee is required to carry out any work at the Jahangir Kothari Parade which is a protected heritage site.”
In reply to another question, he specifically said: “The committee has neither issued any NOC nor given any permission to anybody to carry out the construction at the protected Clifton site.”
When contacted, KMC director general technical services Niaz Soomro first told Dawn that there was no need for a permission from any other organisation since the Jahangir Kothari Parade was owned by the KMC. But then he said he would check the relevant record and would get back to this scribe that he never did.
Additional secretary for culture Bashir Brohi did not respond to numerous attempts by Dawn to get his version on the issue.
This is not the first time that the controversial flyover and underpasses came in the limelight, as the project had made headlines earlier when work on it had been initiated without getting the mandatory environmental impact assessment (EIA) report approved from the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency. Then again the project became news when construction work was stopped on an order of a court that also issued directive for obtaining Sepa approval. A few months later Sepa approved the EIA report and work was resumed on it.
The project yet again hit the headlines when members of the Hindu community moved a court against the damage being done to the centuries old temple due to the construction / digging work.
The Jahangir Kothari Parade — which was built at the cost of over Rs300,000 and gifted by a Parsi philanthropist Seth Jahangir Hormusji Kothari to the citizens of Karachi — is a cluster of monuments comprising the Promenade Pavilion; Lady Lloyd Pier (named after wife of the then Bombay governor Sir George Lloyd), a Band Stand and around 300-metre-long walkway between the Band Stand on one side and Jahangir Kothari’s house (no more existing) on the other.
The complex was inaugurated by the Lady Lloyd on March 21, 1921.
The sources said that the culture department rarely initiated punitive action in case the violator was a powerful / influential organisation. They said the KMC had previously carried out construction work in the historic Khalikdina Hall, another protected heritage site, without obtaining its permission.
Citing the example of Pakistan Rangers, the sources said, culture department did not take action against the paramilitary force when the latter carried out ‘illegal construction’ in their temporary headquarters in Jinnah Court — a protected heritage site — and constructed buildings on its premises.
Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2015
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