RYK district council opposes construction of facilitation centre

Resolutions against construction of two-storey facilitation centre passed

RAHIM YAR KHAN:

The district administration has decided to construct a two-storey facilitation centre and its parking lot at the Sabzazar Ground which is allotted for public amenity

The proposed facilitation centre is to be constructed in front of the Town Hall, a historic building of Rahim Yar Khan. The chairmen of the district council and the municipal corporation have expressed serious concerns over the plan, calling the decision of the district administration “unwise”.

Resolutions were passed by a majority vote at the meetings of the District Council and the Municipal Corporation against the construction of a two-storey facilitation centre in the greenery (Sabzazar) of the Town Hall.

The construction of a facilitation centre and a parking lot over a large area in the greenery of the town hall in the centre of the city will affect the flow of citizens and traffic, and it will deny the people recreational facilities of the Town Hall Park. The district administration has started implementing the plan to build the facilitation centre over about six kanals of land in Sabzazar

The District Council and Municipal Corporation offices are located in the Town Hall, which is considered to be a symbol of Rahim Yar Khan.

The building was designed after the formation of Pakistan by one Syed Noor Hussain Zamin Hussaini, an engineer, in the image of the Town Tower in Sheffield, England.

Allama Abdul Rauf Al Rabbani, Sardar Zafar Khan Tareen Advocate, former secretary of the bar Amir Nadeem Khan and others say that the town hall park and its green area were being used as a place of recreation by the people, especially students and children.

The situation created by the land center and NADRA center built in the busy places of the city is in front of everyone. They said that residence for government officials, adjacent to the D-Office, built during the British period, consists of 20 to 25 acres.

Adjacent to the town hall are all the offices of the District Council and the Municipal Corporation.

The members of the District Council and the Municipal Corporation in their meetings passed resolutions against this decision of the district administration and strongly condemned the construction of the facility center building in the greenery of the town hall and expressed their concerns.

According to Chairman of the Municipal Corporation Mian Ijaz Amir and Vice Chairman Abdul Latif Bhatti, the town hall Clock Tower and building is the heritage of the city.

The Municipal Corporation is not opposed to the construction of the facilitation centre and will assist the district administration in finding a suitable place for it.

According to District Council Chairman Sardar Azhar Khan Leghari, earlier the only Mahmood Stadium in Rahim Yar Khan city was demolished.

Meanwhile, talking to the Express Tribune, the Deputy Director of Finance and Planning, Talib Randhawa, said that the Facilitation Centre was a project of the Punjab Information Technology Board which would be completed at a cost of Rs100 million. The project required a space of three kanals, and the designated space was ideal for the Facilitation Centre.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2021.