Dilapidated buildings face eviction

Over 240 structures declared structurally hazardous in Rawalpindi

RAWALPINDI:

The season's first heavy pre-monsoon rainfall has prompted municipal authorities, the District Council and the Education Department to take emergency measures over hundreds of dilapidated and potentially dangerous buildings across Rawalpindi district.

Following the downpour, the Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi and the District Council have issued notices directing the immediate evacuation of 241 structurally unsafe buildings identified as vulnerable to collapse during the monsoon season.

Simultaneously, the Education Department has ordered the sealing of unsafe classrooms and school buildings in both public and private educational institutions where structural damage, leaking roofs or visible cracks have been reported.

The action has also drawn attention to the lack of progress on earlier commitments to allocate funds for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of hazardous school buildings.

Despite announcements made more than a year ago, no significant practical work has reportedly been undertaken before the close of the current financial year.

Many of the endangered structures are located in the densely populated inner-city neighbourhoods of Rawalpindi, including Bohar Bazaar, Bhabra Bazaar, Mohalla Shah Chan Chiragh, Jamia Masjid Road, Sarafa Bazaar, Pull Shah Nazar, Bagh Sardaran, Mohalla Niarian, Jhangi Mohalla, Chitian Hattian, Landa Bazaar, Madanpura, Kartarpura, Mughal Sarai, Moti Bazaar, Committee Mohalla and surrounding areas of Lal Haveli.

According to officials, most of these three-storey buildings are between 100 and 140 years old and were originally owned by Hindu and Sikh families before Partition.

Following the creation of Pakistan, the properties came under Muslim occupancy. Approximately 45 per cent of the structures are administered by the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB).

Many tenants continue to occupy the buildings under long-standing tenancy agreements dating back to the 1950s and 1960s, with monthly rents reportedly ranging from Rs4,000 to Rs10,000.

Similar conditions exist in numerous commercial properties, particularly in Mughal Sarai Market, where many ageing shops are also considered structurally unsafe.

Residents say the buildings leak heavily during rain and sway during seismic activity, yet many occupants are reluctant to vacate them for fear of losing low-rent accommodation and being unable to secure alternative housing at comparable rates.

Critics argue that municipal authorities, the District Council and the ETPB routinely issue evacuation notices during the monsoon season but rarely follow them with effective enforcement. They contend that action is often taken only after an accident occurs, at which point officials cite previously issued warnings.

Abid Ali, a tenant of one such building in Chitian Hattian, said notices issued last year had already been challenged before a civil court and the matter remains under trial. He argued that the authorities cannot repeatedly issue notices on the same matter while legal proceedings are ongoing.

However, an ETPB spokesperson said the newly issued notices would be enforced and warned that if tenants failed to vacate the dangerous properties and an accident subsequently occurred, criminal proceedings, including the registration of First Information Reports (FIRs), could be initiated against the occupants.