Rawalpindi: Reconstruction of Gakhar Plaza to start by this month

[Naveed Yaseen]

Shopkeepers, salesmen await reconstruction of Gakhar Plaza

Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Khalid Iqbal

Rawalpindi

The Gakhar Plaza in Rawalpindi Cantonment, a grand six-storey building, was the pride of the city. It was fun to shop there. However, through a strange quirk of fate, the imposing building caught fire in the wee hours of December 20 last year and was gutted and all 500 plus shops there just disappeared as if they never existed.

This plaza provided bread and butter to almost 5,000 persons. There were big shops too but majority belonged to small shopkeepers and everyone felt the bite. However it is more than four months and the unfortunate shopkeepers are still where they were on day one. A visit to the place where the plaza once was, dampens the spirits and one is at a loss to understand what are the imponderables which stand in the way of reconstruction of the plaza so that the poor souls could once again hope to start from a scratch.

When the tragedy occurred exactly four months and sixteen days ago, there was a flood of sympathetic statements from the government as well as leaders of public opinion, including MNAs and MPAs. There was a flood of statements from the powers that be that the poor souls would be given every possible assistance to stand on their feet once again. They had given statements that the work on the construction of Gakhar Plaza would start in January 2009 — within one month of the tragedy.

The owner of Gakhar Plaza, Raja Shahid Zafar, told ‘The News’ that the work would start by the end of May. He said that there were some difficulties in the passage of building map by the cantonment board. Now all formalities have been completed, therefore work on the ten-storey building would start by the end of May. He was quite confident and sympathetic to the poor shopkeepers and said that it was his earnest desire and effort that the work should be completed with the start of 2010. He assured that after the completion of the building he would give preference to all affected shopkeepers to restart their business activities.

It may be recalled that while talking to ‘The News’ in December, the owner of Gakhar Plaza had stated that originally he planned to start reconstruction work in February but certain imponderables delayed the matters, much to his dismay.

After the incident, the Punjab government formed a committee of five members to review the Gakhar Plaza tragedy in which District Coordination Officer (DCO) Imdadullah Bosal, MNA Haji Pervez Khan, MPA Shehryar Riaz, Mian Shuja-ur-Rehman and Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Syed Asad Mashadi were included for taking up the matter.

MPA Shehryar Riaz said that it is a federal government matter and not a provincial government issue because all shopkeepers were paying taxes to the cantonment board, which is under the control of the federal government. “However the provincial government took up the matter seriously, but unfortunately governor’s rule created disturbance in our efforts. I will now meet Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif to resolve the matter,” he said.

RCCI President Syed Asad Mashadi said that the chamber had worked real hard and collected money for the relief of small businessmen but the scheme was not encouraged by the shopkeepers. The shopkeepers want that the government should come to their rescue.

According to him, one of the proposals made by traders was that the banks whom most of the shopkeepers owe money borrowed on credit cards or as business loans should be asked to either totally waive them or make a settlement by asking them to pay a token amount, say 30 to 40 per cent of the loan. They had a valid reason that if the banks can write off loans of billions of rupees, they should be generous enough to write off loans of some lakhs or even millions.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Imdadullah Bosal said that they are taking the matter of the plaza seriously and the work on the construction of the plaza would start soon.

Rawalpindi Cantonment Board Station Commander Brigadier Sajjad Azam said that senior officers are taking the matter of Gakhar Plaza. “They are dealing the matter in a right way,” he added.

Around 5,000 families are facing hardships since December 20, 2008, due to the collapse of the Gakhar Plaza. There were more than 2,000 salesmen in around 500 shops in Gakhar Plaza. Many of them are going from pillar to post and from shop-to-shop to get some sort of work. Most of them are still without a job.

The affected shopkeepers and salesmen often visit the site where the Gakhar Plaza once stood tall but they come back dejected and disappointed. Many of the Gakhar Plaza victims are mopping floors in shops, schools, hospitals and in other places. Some of them are selling dry fruits. They are all bitter about the fact that they have been left alone in their hour of trial.

The affected shopkeepers and salesmen in a state of hopeless told ‘The News’ that they are not optimistic in this matter.

One affected shopkeeper said that he is still in a dazed state of mind and not ready to accept the reality that everything has gone to the dogs. He said that powers that be should come out with a strategy through which the affected persons are helped to rise again with dignity and honour. They may be provided interest-free loans and banks be asked to provide moratorium to the present loans of the shopkeepers, if any.

Muhammad Usman, a salesman at a shop in Gakhar Plaza, said that he could not find out any kind of job since the day of fire. The government and private organisations should help those who had been rendered jobless after the collapse of the Gakhar Plaza, he demanded.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=176099