Daily Times

Recent rains in the city have exposed the substandard construction of Municipal Library’s new building which got flooded with rainwater and its ceilings were dripping. The Municipal Library building was recently constructed with more than 25 Million rupees, funded by the World Bank.

According to sources, the recent rains in the city have exposed the substandard work of the library. “The construction quality of the building is very poor,” said sources. The sources said that due to the poor drainage management system in the newly constructed building, the rain water comes inside from courtyards and also dripped from the ceiling.

A senior official of MCR wishing anonymity informed that despite the original building plan, the constructor himself added changes in the plan thereby destroying the original shape of this historical building. While some old library items like fans, large size tables, heaters and chairs were also went missing. The contractor with the support of some MCR Infrastructure Department officials has allegedly architected the walls without completely demolishing the old building structure to save the money, sources said.

The construction of new building of Municipal Library was started in June, 2018 and was to be completed within two months. Despite the passage of almost ten months, only the structure of the building is constructed yet, source maintained. When contacted, Municipal Officer Infrastructure (MOI) Rafaqat Gondal said, the construction of the library building is not yet completed. All issues will be resolved once the project is completed, he said.

The Rawalpindi Municipal Library was established in 1873 and located next to Liaquat Bagh, is the only public library in the city. A student of public sector university Ammar Ahmed said, ‘Municipal library is the only public library in the city. The World Bank awarded fund for the reconstruction of this historical library. But unfortunately, our government officers are doing corruption in this project as well.’ Civil society has demanded the Minister Local Government Raja Basharat and Deputy Commissioner Rawalpindi to take notice of the irregularities in the library fund and substandard construction of its building.

Published in Daily Times, February 28^th 2019.