New generation Kalma Chowk monument makes debut today

As the Kalma Chowk flyover is being inaugurated today (Sunday), the prestigious Kalma Chowk monument is returning with a twin, as two miniature sized monuments are being placed instead of one, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The iconic Kalma Chowk monument, which represented modern Lahore, was removed on May 23 to execute the Kalma Chowk Flyover Project. The monuments are miniature modernised copies of the original Kalma Chowk landmark and presently hidden from the general public. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif would raise the curtain inaugurating the Kalma Chowk Flyover and unveil the new and modernised Kalma Chowk monuments. Made of metal and steel, the monuments are about half the size and half the weight of the original Kalma Chowk monument. The monuments have been placed on both ends of the flyover, the Canal Bank side and the Model Town side. They are positioned at both ends but in between the two bridges. The monuments have been welded in the shape of the original Kalma Chowk monument.
The original Kalma Chowk monument was created in the early 90s by one of the greatest architects of Pakistan, Nayyar Ali Dada. Dada was not happy with placement of the original monument, as it was positioned between intense traffic commotions, which made it hard to read the calligraphy engraved in the monument. The monument was originally planned to be placed at the Liberty Roundabout but was relocated later to Ferozepur Road.
“I think people would like both monuments, as they look quite graceful,” an engineer working at the Kamla Chowk construction site, said. He said that the new monuments looked like the modernised and more compact copies of the original. “The original will always remain the original but the new pair aren’t that bad either,” he said.