Dilapidated structures pose life risks

RAWALPINDI:

Despite the onset of the monsoon season and the issuance of flood alerts for low-lying areas of the garrison city, the Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation, Rawalpindi Cantonment Board, Chaklala Cantonment Board, Rawalpindi District Council and the Evacuee Trust Property Board have failed to get the 180 dilapidated residential buildings vacated across the district.

Sources said these residential structures have been declared dangerous and residents of these buildings have been issued repeated notices, asking them to vacate these premises to avoid any untoward incident.

According to sources, the chief officers of the RMC and cantonment boards issue traditional notices to vacate the most dilapidated buildings every year in the pre-monsoon season, but they fail to vacate even a single building, as a result of which four or five lives are lost every monsoon due to the collapse of the roof/walls of these structures.

They said all these dilapidated structures have become a constant threat to human lives and valuables due to the forecast of heavy monsoon downpours and potential floods during the ongoing year. “All these structures are 120 to 170 years old,” the sources said.

These dilapidated buildings are located in and around Bohar Bazar, Ghazni Road, Sardar Bagh, Lal Haveli area, Old Fort, Pul Shah Nazar Diwan, Jangalat Road, Dungi Khoi, Talwar Bazar, Bhabha Bazar, Kartarpura, Usmanpura, Inner Moti Bazar, Mughal Sarai, Shah Chan Chirag, Lunda Bazar, Chitian Hattian, Trunk Bazar, Teli Mohalla, Sarafa Bazar, Urdu Bazar, Mochi Bazar, Kalan Bazar, Raja Bazar, Saddar Chota Bazar, Kobary Mithu and Babu Mohalla.

All the ancient temples and Gurdwaras across the city have also been declared dangerous due to being in decrepit condition.

Most of these old structures are two and three-storied, however, several have become four-storeyed due to subsequent alterations by their residents. These ancient buildings often house four to five families, comprising 20 to 25 persons including children, in small quarters.

Every rainy season for the last 30 years, there have been fatalities but to date, no government or relevant institution has made a serious effort to find a permanent solution to this problem.

All these areas are densely populated and consist of narrow and dark streets most of which are not even drivable.

Residents of these buildings have also obtained stay orders on the notices to vacate the buildings from different courts. Certain field staff and officers of these institutions are also involved in obtaining the stay orders for these residents, owing to which they keep the files in cold storage.

Sources said rescue vehicles are not able to enter these narrow areas in case of an accident. Every year two or three dilapidated buildings collapse due to heavy rains but as soon as the monsoon ends, all the relevant entities go back to “sleep”.

The families living in these multi-storied buildings are 70 to 90-year-old tenants and pay meagre rents to the ETPB.

Issue of affordability

Residents of these buildings, Haji Basharat and Din Muhammad told The Express Tribune that “if we vacate this house, the department will not give it to us again. Due to poverty, we cannot pay high rent elsewhere.”

Another resident, Subhan Firoz, says: “We do not have the money to demolish the damaged building and rebuild it. We only repair what is damaged.”On the other hand, ETPB Deputy Director Muhammad Asif says: “We have updated the list of all the dilapidated buildings owned by us. We will clear all this step by step.”

Damaged buildings

RMC Administrator and Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha says the focus is on all the damaged buildings due to the flood season and monsoon rains. “Residents of more damaged buildings will be shifted to safer places during the rainy season. Steps have been initiated to solve the problem of dilapidated buildings permanently,” he said.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2023.