Due to a lack of planning and half-backed strategy, the Punjab government’s mega plan to establish nine food streets hit a stumbling block after the Lahore High Court (LHC) issued on Friday a restraining order against setting up a food street on a greenbelt in Shadbagh near Toka Wala Chowk.
As most of the sites identified for food streets are proposed on greenbelts, the food streets plan will remain a non-starter and the credit goes to the CM’s big guns who gave it the go-ahead without preparing a comprehensive report, feasibility study and seeking public opinion. Lahore Commissioner Nadeem Hassan Asif directed Lahore District Coordination Officer (DCO) Ahad Cheema last week to identify suitable sites in Gulberg Town, Shalimar Town, Nishtar Town, Samanabad Town, Allama Iqbal Town, Wahga Town, Aziz Bhatti Town, Ravi Town and Data Ganj Bakhsh Town and sought a complete survey and report in a couple of days.
City District Government Lahore (CDGL) officials marked Shadbagh as the first food street on a greenbelt. Local traders and people staged a protest to save the greenbelt and a petition was filed in the LHC on Thursday challenging plans to set up a food street at the expense of a greenbelt. The petition was filed by Hafiz Moin Ahmed, through his counsel Advocate Azhar Siddique.
The petitioner requested the court to set aside the order of setting up a food street in the area and restore the greenbelt on which the court on Friday issued stay order and fixed May 20 as the next hearing date. A senior Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) official told Pakistan Today that in exercise of the power conferred under Section 44 of the Punjab Development of Cities Act 1976 read with government notification Number SO (P)-3-4-/98 dated September 21, 1998, the PHA framed its regulation regarding greenbelts and could convert them into a public utility site, if need be.
He said that the PHA had allowed some stretch of the greenbelts for construction of Bhekawal Mor and Allama Iqbal Town Main Boulevard. “People will be the main beneficiary if the food street is built,” he said, alleging that traders who were using the greenbelt for car parking were against the plan. Another PHA director said that people had also protested two days ago against conversion of the greenbelt into a food street in Mughalpura, near Lalpul. “We also anticipate such public protests on other proposed sites, which means that the food street plan is in hot water,’ he added.
He said that PHA experts, during a meeting with Cheema, opposed the plan to set up food streets in every town, saying food streets were set up at heritage sites or areas which were on decay and where traditional food outlets already existed. A CDGL official said that experts also proposed restoration of the Gawalmandi Food Street, if the Punjab government was really eager to add value to the city’s cultural and traditional landscape.
“We also suggested establishing a food street behind the Badshahi Mosque on immense demand and pressure from citizens and local residents,” the official said. He said the project was potentially feasible due to its proximity with splendid Mughal structures, including the Badshahi Mosque and Lahore Fort.
Food streets plan headed to the scrap yard?
