A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday directed the Punjab government to submit all PC-I (Project Charters) and complete record of the land acquired for the project of Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) within one week. The court adjourned the hearing for Tuesday (today) with directions to petitioners' counsel to come up with arguments on laws relating to protection of heritage sites. The bench had already stayed construction of the project within 200-foot radius of eleven heritage sites including Shalimar Garden, Chauburji, GPO building and shrine of Baba Mauj Darya.
Earlier, Advocate General Punjab Shakilur Rehman Khan stated in his conclusive arguments that the project of the OLMT was a public welfare project and initiated after meeting all legal requirements. Representing civil society and other petitioners, Azhar Siddique argued that the government presented before the court only one PC-I of the project whereas, he alleged, three PC-I were issued. He said the cost of the project was more than Rs 250 billion, not Rs 160 billion. He said the payments made against acquisition of public and private land by the government should also be included in the cost of the main project. The petitioners mainly stated that multi-billion project of the metro train was not approved by Punjab Assembly. They said the project put heritage of the Lahore city on stake as 26 historical and protected monuments were going to lose their significance.
Comments
Comments are closed.