LAHORE – The Bhatta Chowk expansion project has finally started after traders reconciled with the Punjab government, though with a heavy heart, over the dispute on compensation amounting to Rs 1.15 billion. With project’s start, around 300 shops have been demolished and construction work is in full swing. A fact of the matter is that project will cost Rs 38 million but the compensation amount stands at Rs 1.15 billion. Traders claimed that patch-up had to be done under severe pressure piled up by the government, threatening shopkeepers that they had no option but to accept the compensation money as the government had absolute power to assert its authority at all cost.
‘MIGHT IS RIGHT’: Mian Muhammad Ashraf, heading a 20-member committee formed by traders on the direction of the government to address the issue, told Pakistan Today that traders had to retreat and agree on the terms of the government. “The patch-up has inflicted irreparable financial damage on us. Ironically the price of per marla stands at Rs 1.2 million but the government announced the Rs 0.8 million in compensation. However, we had to give in as poor shopkeepers could not afford to confront with the authorities and close their shops,” he said.
Billa Gujjar, a shopkeeper at the Bhatta Chowk, said that the government did not settle the issue but ‘exploited’ them. BALANCED COMPENSATION? PML-N MPA Mian Naseer, who won from the Bhatta Chowk constituency, said that the basic reason behind the uproar was that the government dolled out higher compensation amounts to the affected people during the extension of Lahore Ring Road, and making it a precedent, traders of the Bhatta Chowk wanted the same treatment. Naseer admitted that the compensation amount should have been judicious and balanced. “I met the government officials including Lahore Division Commissioner Nadeem Hassan Asif and recommended a 25 percent increase in compensation money,” he added.
He said that recommendations had also been sent to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to look into the matter. Bhatta Chowk’s expansion plan was approved when the Punjab CM presided over a meeting last month. A NESPAK official told Pakistan Today that more than 30,000 vehicles daily passed through the chowk and as it gives direct access to the DHA and cantonments towards the airport, it often remains chocked. He said, “We designed and prepared feasibility reports of flyover and underpass but both were replaced by the chowk’s remodeling plan due to reason best known to the government.”
