Rs23m offered for legends’ houses

‘Havelies’ in the walled city will be turned into museums after acquisition

PESHAWAR:

The Chief Minister has approved an amount of Rs23.56 million for the purchase of the ancestral houses of Indian film legends Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor inside the walled city of Peshawar. The amount will soon be released to the Deputy Commissioner (DC) for payment to the land owners.

The Raj Kapoor’s ancestral haveli at Ander Shaher Bazaar will be bought for Rs15 million and Dilip Kumar’s house in Mohalla Khudadad will be acquired for Rs8.56 million.

Government has planned to acquire the properties, renovate it as both of them are in very bad shape, and turn them into museums to attract tourism.

Local inhabitants of Peshawar were demanding the acquisition of both houses for a long time as the once magnificent haveli of Kapoor family has been in ruins and not inhibited due to the depleted condition of the structure.

It is worth mentioning here that for a long time the owners were not willing to sell these houses as government was reportedly not willing to pay the market prices.

The government on the other hand claimed that the owners were demanding exorbitantly higher prices and blackmailing the authorities due to the importance of these houses in the eyes of local residents.

Now government has fixed a price on its own and it remains to be seen whether it will be acceptable for the owners as the landlord of the Kapoor’s haveli was planning to build a shopping mall and demolish the building when he failed to reach a consensus with the authorities over the pricing.

Where on the one side the government was offering very small sum for both the houses in the past it was also true that the land owners were also demanding billions and a far higher prices than that of the market average, so the prices of the houses remained a bone of contention between the two parties for a long time.

Director Archeology Department Dr Abdul Sumad said they were trying to estimate the cost of renovation of both the buildings as the department has declared these houses national assets.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2021.