Islamabad’s biggest shopping mall, Centaurus Mall, has come under fire after it announced on Thursday that some visitors will be required to purchase entry coupons, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
In what it called a move to avoid ‘overcrowding’, Centaurus Mall in a public notice said visitors will have to buy a Rs 100 coupon to enter the mall. However, some people are exempt from the scheme which goes into effect on July 3.
The public notice listed 23 types of people who will not have to purchase the entry coupons. Those exempted include all women and children under 12, senior citizens, lawmakers and executives, diplomats and foreigners, journalists and lawyers, members of country clubs, doctors and teachers. Further, the notice said, “famous players of hockey, cricket, football and golf” and “celebrities” do not have to purchase the entry coupon.
The exemptions sparked debate on social media with some questioning who will determine who’s ‘famous’ and others alleging ‘class discrimination.’
“Some pretty gross and messed up elitism by the Centaurus Mall in Islamabad here. Too many poors visiting I guess,” said one commentator on Twitter.
While others claimed the action was taken to keep out ‘Pindi Boys.’
However, the mall management defended the move as a measure to facilitate customers.
“To ensure that shopping at Centaurus does not become inconvenient to them, we have decided to introduce an entry coupon of Rs 100 per person,” the public notice read.
Speaking to Wall Street Journal, Kashif S Butt, the marketing manager at the Mall, said the entry coupon was not intended to exclude any class of people.
“We have excluded all women and children, all senior citizens, regardless of where they come from or how much they have from the coupon policy,” Butt said.
“The fact is that because of summer vacations, there are a lot of young people who loiter for hours. This is a business decision to reduce the crowd and improve the experience for our customers,” he added.