LAHORE: Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, while chairing a meeting about the revival of cultural and tourism-related activities in Lahore city, accorded in-principle approval to the construction of an overhead bridge from railway station to Badshahi Masjid along with introducing "street and night tourism" in Lahore, to attract the tourists.
Addressing the meeting, the CM disclosed that buffer zones will be introduced to preserve the historical buildings and monuments while urban space will also be restored for the citizens in the provincial metropolis. Similarly, sit-out cafes will be introduced so that the citizens can enjoy leisure life on the pattern of Europe. The food stalls will be arranged at an open area on historic mall road and food items will be sold on pushcarts of appropriate designs, he said.
DG Walled City of Lahore Authority apprised the meeting that the royal passageway is being restored from Kashmiri Bazar to Dabbi Bazar. The meeting also reviewed setting up open-air food streets at different places in Lahore.
While presiding over a meeting at his office about repairs, maintenance and renovation projects of different shrines, the CM directed to devise a master plan for the repair and maintenance of shrines of Sufi saints. He stated that green-belt and the park will also be developed at the area connected with Data Darbar.
The meeting decided to reserve the passageway for pedestrians; and to ensure smooth flow of traffic around Data Darbar, the basement area will be reserved for parking. The lift will be fitted along with the construction of 100 new toilets.
The meeting also deliberated upon underground passageways for pedestrians near Data Darbar besides reviewing the project of repair and maintenance of Hazrat Baba Mouj Darya shrine. The CM added the new building of the shrine of Hazrat Bibi Pak Daman will be completed with an amount of Rs 150 million and separate halls will be built for male and female devotees along with other amenities. Similarly, the shrine of Hazrat Baba Farid Ganj Shakar in Pakpattan will be renovated with an amount of Rs 15 million. Along with it, religious tourism of shrines will also be introduced on a weekly basis, he said.
Moreover, the CM has directed to hold revenue public-service kutcheries for providing prompt relief to the people as well as to redress their grievances concerning revenue related matters. Revenue public-service kutcheries were held for the first time in the province and revenue related problems of thousands of citizens were solved on-the-spot.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020