Daily Times

LAHORE: The Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) has started listing the havelis and high architectural merit properties inside the Walled City to safeguard the heritage that is left behind in the city, Daily Times learnt.

The inventory is being prepared by documenting the properties and the city has been divided into nine wards and 18 team members are carrying out this task. Daily Times learnt that a survey on havelis and high architectural merit properties was previously conducted in 2012 which declared that only 308 architectural merit properties were left inside the city, whereas the recent survey and inventory is negating the previous and more than 300 high architectural merit properties have been found in one ward which includes the Lohari and Bhatti gates area.

It was learnt through reliable sources that heritage properties including havelis and high architectural merit houses and shops were being rapidly demolished by the plaza mafia inside the Walled City and so far hundreds of such buildings had been changed into plazas or commercial areas. The areas of Bhatti, Taxali, Lohari, Delhi and Mochi Gates had the remains of most of the havelis and high architectural merit houses but many of them were being demolished overnight for converting them into plaza, whereas no observation or action was made by WCLA, the sources further added.

The locals informed Daily Times that almost a decade ago, the Walled City had a lot of heritage properties but recently the plaza mafia got active and had started purchasing the buildings for using them as plazas or commercial activity. The residents and locals were of the view that commercialisation of the area had led to traffic congestion inside the Walled City and it was no more a safe living place for them. The locals said that commercialisation had also resulted in the settlement of Afghan traders who were purchasing havelis and houses and turning them into plazas and hostels.

WCLA Conservation & Building Control Deputy Director Mubashir Hassan told Daily Times that to safeguard the heritage left in the city, WCLA had taken on board 18 experts from the field to make an inventory of the existing high architectural merit properties inside the Walled City.

“In 2012, a small survey was conducted by the staff but they were able to identify only 308 high architectural merit properties inside the Walled City. We have started a new survey for creating an inventory and in that we have located more than 300 high architectural merit properties in just one ward which includes the area of Lohari and Bhatti Gate. In my opinion, the number of high architectural merit properties inside the walled city will be more than two thousand if the ratio in each ward remains the same, but some wards like Shah Almi and Sheranwala will have less high architectural merit properties due to commercialisation,” Mubashir Hassan said.

He added that the steps of creating inventory included the complete photographic documentation of the building’s interior and exterior, filling in of a given performa and then classifying the properties into high, medium and low architectural merit properties.

WCLA Conservation & Planning Director Najam Saqib explained that a thorough assessment of the properties was being carried out on war footing in order to save and document the architectural merit properties.

“Latest survey which has started now gives us the stats that 300 high architectural merit properties are there only inside the Lohari and Bhatti junction which is one of the nine wards of the Walled City and after the completion of survey the number will surely raise and we will be able to identify the exact number of high architectural merit properties inside the Walled City. Once the inventory is completed and made a part of the WCLA’s geographical information system, we will be assessing each property as per heritage rules of WCLA and put the properties into three categories which are high, medium and low architecture merit. We would be sharing the complete details of these properties with the Heritage Conservation Board of WCLA and later as per policies and availability of budget we would start the restoration on priority basis,” Najam Saqib added.

He also explained that young personals from the field of architecture, history, anthropology, urban planning and archaeology have been involved in these processes so that they become a resource for the country’s heritage in future. He concluded that saving the heritage that is left in the city was one of the prime objectives of WCLA and soon they would start restoring it.

Published in Daily Times, May 20^th 2018.