Tuesday, January 19, 2010
LAHORE

FOR OVER a year, an illegal parking stand has been operating in the historical Mochi Gate Ground while the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), the custodian of all the public parks and grounds in the provincial capital, is looking powerless to take any action.

Adjacent to the Mochi Gate on the Circular Road, half of the ground has been turned into a cemented gathering place with a big stage near the entrance while half of the ground was turned into a playground.

The Mochi Gate was named after Moti Ram, a Hindu guard of one of the 13 gates of the City’s wall during the Mughal era. Initially, the place was called Moti Gate but later the name was distorted and became Mochi. Some people are of the opinion that the place got its name from a shoe market it housed in the past.

Since the pre-partition era, the Mochi Gate Ground has been hosting important public gatherings and was termed as the place where biggest and most important political meetings were held. The locals said the political leaders like Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Jawaharlal Nehru, Allama Iqbal, Fatima Jinnah, Hussain Shaheed Suharwardy, Liaquat Ali Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto all addressed public gatherings in the ground.

Muhammad Suleman, 70, a resident of the area, said he had attended hundreds of political rallies held in the ground. He said that during his youth, it was said that a politician who had not addressed a rally in the ground had not yet entered into politics.

“I remember how leaders like Liaquat Ali Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Nawabzada Nasrullah, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and others made speeches in this ground,” he maintained.

The ground was also used by eminent scholars, poets and activists like Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Syed Ataullah Shah Bukhari, Maulana Maududi, Allama Mashriqi, Maulana Ludhianvi, Agha Shorish Kashmiri and others for meetings and public gatherings.

Sources in the PHA said that after renovation of the ground, the PHA had locked its main gate but no official was deputed for security and maintenance of the ground. Sources said that before handing over of the park to the authority, owners and drivers of goods transport services, which were situated on the Circular Road, used to park their trucks and other vehicles in the ground. When the ground was handed over to the PHA for maintenance, the main gate of the park was closed to keep the truck drivers out.

Presently, the ground is being used as a private parking place by some “influentials” who have allegedly broke lock of the main gate and hired professionals to park vehicles in the ground in an organised manner. Ironically, several police officials also use the ground to park their vehicles as the police station of Mochi Gate and Rang Mahal are situated adjacent to the ground.

Overcharging by the persons running the illegal parking stand in the historical ground is another vital issue. They are charging Rs 20 per car and Rs 10 per motorcycle whereas the official rates are Rs 10 and Rs 5 for car and motorcycle respectively.

Jamil Ahmed, another local, said that those running the illegal parking stand in the historical ground had strong political connections and they had foiled various attempts of the PHA to lock the ground.

When contacted, PHA Director Circular Garden Nawaz Rammy said he had taken charge of the seat some two days ago and did not know about the illegal parking stand in the ground. He, however, said that he would visit the place on Tuesday and would take legal action against those responsible.

Former Director Circular Garden Ali Nawaz Shah, who is presently an OSD, said local labourers used to break the locks and allow the parking of vehicles and it was not being done in an organised manner. When asked about any action taken by him against anyone for breaking locks and allowing parking in the ground, he said had repeatedly filed written applications to the local police regarding the issue but no action was taken. He, however, refused to name the persons responsible for the illegal act and said he did not remember the names.

Locals have appealed to Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif to take an immediate action against the persons running the illegal parking stand in the historical ground. They said the ground should be preserved and be declared a national heritage. —Ali Raza

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