LAHORE, Feb 27: The army, which had agreed in principal to give its 25 acres to police and Boy Scouts Association offices which were to be shifted from the Baab-i-Pakistan project site, would give a formal and positive response within three weeks, finally allowing the construction of the monument.
This was stated at a meeting of the project’s executive committee held under its newly appointed chairman, Col Shuja Khanzada (retired), here on Thursday.
Mr Khanzada is a special assistant to the Punjab chief minister and was appointed the committee chairman a few days ago.
Baab-i-Pakistan Project Director Kamran Lashari and Information Secretary Taimur Azmat Osman were also there.
According to sources, the participants were informed that a formal approval would be given for the handing over of the land adjacent to the site of the project by the GHQ.
They said out of the 25 acres of Nuzul land, which had been under the possession of the army for the past many years, around 14.6 acres would be given to the Boy Scouts Association and 10 acres to the police. They added that the availability of the land would remove a major hurdle in the project, which had been in the doldrums for the past 12 years.
However, the project management was yet to strike a deal with the Boy Scouts Association, which was demanding land equivalent to the market value of its property at the Baab-i-Pakistan.
“The executive committee has asked the association to assess the value of their land at the site and is willing to give them a couple of more acres as compensation. It also intends to construct offices for the Boy Scouts Association,” sources said.
They also said during the meeting the architects hired for making design of the project gave a detailed presentation, estimating its cost at Rs316.9 million.
The Punjab had given Rs95 million and Balochistan Rs2.5 million as the seed money, which was invested in the National Savings Certificates and Special Savings Scheme. “Now it has increased to Rs300 million because of the income during the past 12 years. The entire money is for the project,” they said.
The sources said the officials had decided to give a final presentation to the chief minister shortly after which work on the project would be started. The scouts association would also brief the governor on the project, they added.
The Baab-i-Pakistan project, which was conceived by the late Ghulam Haider Wyne, the then Punjab chief minister, was launched in June 1992.
Mr Wyne wanted to build a national monument at Walton’s 75 acres to pay homage to the people, who had lost their lives and property during migration to their new homeland in 1947.
Walton housed the first and the largest refugee camp where the late Mr Wyne, then a young boy, had taken refuge along with hundreds of others who had reached there after leaving their homes and hearths in the East Punjab.
But the project could not be launched for more than a decade because of the occupation of a major portion of the land by the Pakistan army, Boy Scouts Association, police and the education department, which was running two schools there. A katchi abadi over 2.4 acres was another problem.
Finally, Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool visited the site on March 21 last year and resolved the issue. He said the schools should be shifted to a corner of the site and the project be launched without dislocating the residents of the katchi abadi.
It was decided in his presence that the police and the boy scouts’ offices should be shifted to an adjacent Nuzul land to be acquired from the army.
The governor had directed the officials concerned to include a theme park, a Pakistan Movement library and a museum in the project and planned to lay its foundation stone in early April last year. But the project is yet to be launched because of the land dispute.