Daily Times

LAHORE: Sources have informed the Daily Times that the Lal Haveli (property number D/749), located inside the Lohari Mandi of the Walled City of Lahore, is crumbling despite being declared a heritage property by Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) in 2013.

At the Heritage Conservation Board of WCLA’s first meeting in 2013, the property was presented before the board, which declared it a heritage property and directed the authority to plan its conservation. Sources added that currently, the Lal Haveli is up for sale.

According to a shopkeeper near the haveli’s location, the property owner is a Shah Almi trader, and hardly ever visited it. He added that he had the keys to the Haveli, and was allowed to open it to tourists. He told Daily Times that until a year ago, the haveli’s ground and first floor was occupied by shoemakers, and that they all moved out because the walls have become so dilapidated that they have become a danger to occupants. This is why the owner is looking for a potential buyer.

The shopkeeper went on to say that almost a decade ago, the owner had converted the front façade projections into shops, and that during this process the original façade had been damaged.

He lamented that people in the walled city lacked a sense of heritage, and are always in need of money. According to him, this is why the haveli was converted into a plaza in the first place. Daily Times learnt through reliable sources that many nearby havelis had been turned into plazas over the past decade.

Talking about the place’s history, Muhammad Ali, a local resident told Daily Times that it was built by the Maharajah of Kashmir during the reign of the Sikh Empire, for his courtesan, Daroo. “This Haveli is a set of four properties. Architects who come to visit this place categorise it as Lahore’s best example of cut-and chased brickwork with plaster mouldings and admirable wooden jharokas on three floors. The brickwork has been painted again and again, which has changed the colour of the haveli”, Muhammad Ali said. He added that it is the best attraction for tourists who visit Lohari Gate.

When Daily Times corresponded with Nasir Jutt, the haveli’s owner, he said that he wanted to sell the haveli as it was of no use to him. He said that negotiations with a potential buyer were currently in the process. He said that he did not want to spend money on the maintenance of the haveli, as it would cost him too much.

The Chairman of Heritage Conservation Board (HCB) of WCLA Mian Yusaf Sallahuddin said that he had visited the haveli a few years ago, and it is a masterpiece which had to be preserved. He revealed that it was also decided in the HCB meeting held in 2013 that several other havelis were identified for preservation. He assured Daily Times that the WCLA is working on restoration work inside the walled city, and that the Lal Haveli would be restored as well.

Senior architect and conservationist, Professor Sajjad Kausar was of the view that Lohari gate had lost its look over the past 20 years because the area had been completely occupied by plazas. “The walled city of Lahore has many high architectural merit havelis, but how many can be saved and how? I have seen drastic changes in Lal Haveli over the last fifteen or twenty years. The problem is that the traders’ mafia is so strong inside the walled city that it is impossible for any government to take any action against them, as they fear losing voters. These traders have no interest in heritage and they ruthlessly turn heritage buildings into commercial sites”, he said.

WCLA Conservation and Planning Director Najam Us Saqib told Daily Times that the WCLA is writing a letter to the owner, stating that he cannot sell the property, as the government has imposed a ban on selling havelis with such high architectural merit.

Published in Daily Times, April 9^th 2018.