Canal Road commercialisation : Wedding halls fear closure in absence of clear policy
Owners say LDA is sending them notices despite court stay order.
LAHORE:
The owners of wedding halls along Canal Road are seeking an end to the uncertainty over their businesses, as the Lahore Development Authority continues to send them notices for violating zoning laws even though the courts have granted the businesses a stay order.
The section of Canal Road from Dharmapura to Jallo is home to at least 35 wedding halls, most of these between the Shalimar Interchange and the Ring Road Interchange at Harbanspura.
Last year, then Lahore commissioner Khusrau Pervaiz made a policy banning commercial activity on Canal Road. The city government sent notices to the wedding halls to close, but not to any of the other commercial concerns in the area, mostly schools and colleges. After a series of protests, the owners went to court and were granted stay orders against coercive action.
They then resumed their businesses.
This section of road was recently transferred from the City District Government of Lahore to the LDA, which is now sending notices to the owners of wedding halls asking them to explain why they had opened commercial concerns in a non-commercial zone.
“Many halls have been open here for years before any commercialisation policy existed,” said Amir Sohail, an owner.
“We are ready to pay commercialisation fees to the LDA. It would make the LDA millions of rupees if they allowed commercialisation.”
He said that it was unfair of the LDA to target only wedding halls and not schools and colleges. Asked why they were not pursuing a contempt of court case against the LDA, he said: “We are scared. We don’t want to create any issues with the government.”
Shahbaz Ali, another hall owner, said the PML-Nawaz had always been bad for their business. The party had introduced the law limiting the number of dishes that could be served at weddings, as well as the 10pm deadline for wedding halls.
“Last year they dropped a bombshell on us overnight by sealing our halls. We are still in business but we do not know when they might drop another bombshell, since they have yet to announce a new policy for this road,” he said.
“A couple of my friends have closed their halls because of the uncertainty.”
Town Planning director Umme Laila said that the LDA was trying to implement the commercialisation policy drawn up by the commissioner, under which no commercial concerns were to allowed on Canal Road, “especially marriage halls, as they choke the traffic whenever a wedding party arrives.”
She said that the LDA had not received a copy of the stay order from the wedding halls and if it did, it would stop sending the notices until the stay order were vacated.
Chief town planner Chaudhry Akram told The Express Tribune that he had just taken charge a few days ago and was not too familiar with the issue, but the LDA was thinking of a commercialisation policy that would leave the majority of businesses in the area unaffected. He said the policy would be finalised soon.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 1st, 2011.
The owners of wedding halls along Canal Road are seeking an end to the uncertainty over their businesses, as the Lahore Development Authority continues to send them notices for violating zoning laws even though the courts have granted the businesses a stay order.
The section of Canal Road from Dharmapura to Jallo is home to at least 35 wedding halls, most of these between the Shalimar Interchange and the Ring Road Interchange at Harbanspura.
Last year, then Lahore commissioner Khusrau Pervaiz made a policy banning commercial activity on Canal Road. The city government sent notices to the wedding halls to close, but not to any of the other commercial concerns in the area, mostly schools and colleges. After a series of protests, the owners went to court and were granted stay orders against coercive action.
They then resumed their businesses.
This section of road was recently transferred from the City District Government of Lahore to the LDA, which is now sending notices to the owners of wedding halls asking them to explain why they had opened commercial concerns in a non-commercial zone.
“Many halls have been open here for years before any commercialisation policy existed,” said Amir Sohail, an owner.
“We are ready to pay commercialisation fees to the LDA. It would make the LDA millions of rupees if they allowed commercialisation.”
He said that it was unfair of the LDA to target only wedding halls and not schools and colleges. Asked why they were not pursuing a contempt of court case against the LDA, he said: “We are scared. We don’t want to create any issues with the government.”
Shahbaz Ali, another hall owner, said the PML-Nawaz had always been bad for their business. The party had introduced the law limiting the number of dishes that could be served at weddings, as well as the 10pm deadline for wedding halls.
“Last year they dropped a bombshell on us overnight by sealing our halls. We are still in business but we do not know when they might drop another bombshell, since they have yet to announce a new policy for this road,” he said.
“A couple of my friends have closed their halls because of the uncertainty.”
Town Planning director Umme Laila said that the LDA was trying to implement the commercialisation policy drawn up by the commissioner, under which no commercial concerns were to allowed on Canal Road, “especially marriage halls, as they choke the traffic whenever a wedding party arrives.”
She said that the LDA had not received a copy of the stay order from the wedding halls and if it did, it would stop sending the notices until the stay order were vacated.
Chief town planner Chaudhry Akram told The Express Tribune that he had just taken charge a few days ago and was not too familiar with the issue, but the LDA was thinking of a commercialisation policy that would leave the majority of businesses in the area unaffected. He said the policy would be finalised soon.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 1st, 2011.