LAHORE: Historic Shalimar Gardens have been in dilapidated condition for a long time and there is no scheme in sight to conserve the site, enlisted as one unit along with the Lahore Fort in the list of Unesco World Heritage Sites.

Heritage lovers and residents of nearby areas of the garden have criticised the Punjab government and Walled City Lahore Authority (WCLA) for doing nothing to maintain the gardens — a Mughal era complex comprising gardens, pavilions, terraces, royal bath (Hamam) and various other recreational facilities.

“For the last five or six years, we have not seen anyone visit this place for the purpose of conservation or at least minor repairs to keep the gardens intact,” says a resident who lives by the garden’s entrance near the Govt Shalimar Postgraduate College.

“Look at this long, wide and tall boundary wall, which is in dilapidated condition and may collapse if kept ignored,” he points towards the wall.

“The authorities must visit the site immediately and get the conservation works started without wasting any more time in this regard,” he stresses.

According to the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) website, the Shalimar Gardens occupies some 80 acres and since 1981, the Shalimar Gardens were designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site, considered a prime example of Mughal garden design and architecture.

“Dilapidated condition of the gardens, especially the boundary walls and absence of conservation clearly reflects disinterest of the WCLA—which has also started expanding to other heritage sites in Punjab,” says Dr Ajaz Anwar, the president of Lahore Conservation Society.

“This shows that the authority has no plan to conserve or maintain it. Its only interest is to mint money from the tourists through ticketing, photoshoots and other so-called or cosmetic action to please the government.”

Dr Anwar says that some time ago, a part of the gardens’ wall also collapsed that enabled the people to enter and carry out photoshoots. Besides this, the ground level of the localities surrounding the area also rose, lowering the ground level of the gardens.

“This is devastating the gardens badly, especially in the monsoon when the rainwater mixed with sewage accumulates in the gardens off and on.

“I had also pointed out this issue while discussing with a local politician a few years ago, but no action was taken in this regard,” he laments.

He urges the chief minister and other high-ups to intervene and make efforts to conserve and maintain such an important spot.

Mr Anwar has recommended to the government to better hand over the Shalimar Gardens to the archaeology department, which, in fact, has adequate skills/expertise to deal with such issues.

WCLA Director (Conservation and Planning) Najamus Saqib admits the facts related to dilapidated condition of the gardens, especially its boundary walls, gates etc.

“In fact, we took over control of Shalimar Gardens from the Archaeology Department around 18 months ago. And when we took over, this department used to allocate only Rs500,000 for repair/maintenance each year. It is very sad,” he says.

He adds that the authority had requested the Punjab government to release special funds to immediately start some works. And finally, the authority was given Rs100m or so to start some conservation works inside the gardens — pavilions at first, second and third terraces, royal bath, plants nursery and some other places. Side by side, the works worth Rs150m or so at various monuments at the fort have also been launched.

Mr Saqib dispels the impression about negligence by the WCLA.

“In fact, the archaeology department is responsible for this (negligence).”

He says the authority plans to launch mega schemes in the near future and these schemes would be part of its annual development plan for the next fiscal year starting from July 1.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2025