Life in crumbling edifices

‘We don’t romance death and disaster, we just have nowhere else to go,’ said 80-year-old Abdul Rehman

LAHORE:

Where time is kind to some, it is haunting to others. Located in the densely populated Taxali Gate area of the walled city, there stand many edifices which have had the ill fortune of sharing the latter fate.

Once grand and centeral, these residential buildings today tell a somber tale of neglect, while their crippling structure is a terrifying reminder of a disaster waiting to happen.

“There are cracks in the concrete, sometimes bricks fall out of the roof. But it’s not like I have the resources to relocate or rebuild. I have surrendered to my fate. If the building collapses, I’ll be under it,” said 80-year old Abdul Rehman, resident of a ramshackle three-storey building near Taxali Gate.

Rehman, like dozens others, lives in a small 681 square foot quarter within the decaying complex, with his family of eight. Now a man in his dotage, he had arrived in the walled city of Lahore, some seventy odd years ago, when his family migrated from India to Pakistan following partition.

“I have spent a greater part of my life in this quarter. This is where I grew up, got married, had children, married my children and had grandchildren. This is where my parents died and my sisters got married out of. I have spent the best of my times and the worst of my days in this little complex,” recalled Rehman, with a quiver in his voice. “But as I have grown old and weak, so has this structure. We have both felt the wrath of time and yet our fates are intertwined — if not by desire then by circumstances,” he added.

In better days, Abdul Rehman used to make a living out of repurposing old Gota-Kanari lehangas, which he’d source from used-cloth markets. But his frail health and feeble frame, virtue of old age, have limited him to the four walls of his crumbling quarter. “Everyone living in this building has a similar story to tell. We don’t romance death and disaster, we just have nowhere else to go,” he told, before slipping into a forgetful pause.

Other buildings

According to a survey conducted by the Walled City of Lahore Authority, out of the 22,000 buildings inspected by the department, some 600 have been declared dilapidated while over 260 have been recommended for immediate demolition.

A majority of the ramshackle buildings identified by the walled city authority are concentrated in the inner city areas of Lohari, Taxali, Mohalla Thatti Mallah , Kocha Mian Waheed and some localities near Panjwala Talaab area.

Addressing the matter, Walled City of Lahore Authority Building Director Naushin Zaidi said that she has issued several notices declaring these complexes unsafe. “We also sought the help of relevant police offers to help vacate these rickety compounds, but what can we do when people are not willing to leave, even at the cost of their own lives. Every time we try, we get the same response that they have nowhere else to relocated their families,” informed Zaidi.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2020.