Greedy builders using ‘Lahore Bachao’ to protest plazas’ demolition: LBT

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* LBT opposes concept of high-rises altogether
* City needs preservation, not congestion

By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: Senior members of the Lahore Bachao Tehreek (LBT) have urged the government and the public to be aware of “greedy architects and builders” who were unlawfully using the movement’s name to try and stop the ongoing demolition of high-rise buildings in the city.

Speaking at a press conference, senior leaders and members of the movement demanded the government prepare a list of investors who had been scammed out of their money by builders and officials responsible for building these plazas.

Imrana Tiwana, a senior architect and member of LBT, said that some “greedy architects and builders” were pretending to be members and leaders of the movement and were appealing to the government to stop the ongoing demolition process. She said that Kamil Khan Mumtaz, a senior architect, was the motivational force behind the idea of the LBT, adding that he had personally campaigned for the demolition of these high-rises.

Against high-rises: “The organisation, which is made up of the citizens of Lahore, did not in any way support the concept of high-rise buildings in the city. Instead, they stand for the expansion of the city into the suburbs rather than congesting a few areas,” she said. “The LBT aims to campaign against all those people, architects, builders and Lahore Development Authority (LDA) officials who support and authorise these buildings in the first place,” she added. She condemned such people as “greedy money-makers who put the lives of the public and the public money at risk for mere financial gains”. LBT members said that an architect, Khalid Abdur Rehman, along with some other accomplices, was falsely claiming to be a leader of the LBT to try and disrupt and protest the demolition of high-rises. Separately, senior LBT member, Rafay Alam, told Daily Times that Kamil Mumtaz was part of the three-member Supreme Court commission, which had ordered a survey into the high-rise buildings and subsequently ordered their demolition.

Conserve: “The city deserves to be conserved and restored. The citizens of Lahore never approved the high-rise buildings that dominate the skyline today,” he said. “The LBT is looking forward to push the government to expose and punish all the LDA officers who helped build such a large number of plazas against the set rules,” Alam said.