RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: The Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) has partially demolished six illegal plazas here on Saturday.

This was the beginning of an aggressive operation against the illegal constructions inside the walled city of Lahore and the operation for demolition lasted for almost six hours, said a WCLA official. Almost six illegal plazas have been partially demolished whereas final notice has been sent to almost forty plaza owners. The operation will be carried out daily till Eid ul Fitr inside different areas of the walled city and would again start after the official Eid holidays.

Along with the plazas illegal shops on the open drain behind Akbari Police Station have also been demolished by WCLA. The team of WCLA will also be removing the debris after the demolition. The partially demolished plazas were H-1274 (tang bazaar Akbari Gate), I-454 (Androon Akbari Gate), H-345 (Androon Mochi Gate), H-879 (Mohallah Kharadian Akbari Gate), H-991 (Delhi Gate) and H-1450 (Androon Akbari Gate). The operation was spearheaded by the Director Conservation and Deputy Director Building Control WCLA along with Akbari Gate police force.

WCLA Director Conservation and Planning Najam Saquib Said that as per the section 32 (2b) of WCLA ACT 2012 this operation was carried out with a force of 25 police officials and 35 officers / officials from WCLA. He said that the operations will continue till Eid ul Fitr and will end once all the illegal constructions are demolished or partially demolished so that the city if free of such illegal structures which are a threat to the original fabric of heritage homes and city.

“We will be moving to other gates of the city where there are huge plazas illegally constructed and also the ones built on government land. Following the WCLA Act we had issued notices for personal hearings and map approval to almost forty plaza owners.”