RAWALPINDI: The garrison city has been losing its century-old landmarks to commercialism and a tonga stand in the city centre is the next on the list as the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) plans to build a commercial plaza there.

“The RCB wants to utilise the useless space, located close to the defunct Government Transport Service bus stand, for generating funds to be spent on the welfare of the citizens,” the RCB cantonment executive officer, Fahim Zafar Khan, told Dawn.

According to him, the RCB plan calls for first constructing shops at the “useless space” for auction and then build the plaza with the proceeds for bigger profits.

RDA plans to convert tonga stand into commercial plaza

He said the stand had been lying idle as the tongas had vanished with the arrival of new transport.

He said the RCB should have converted the tonga stand into a commercial plaza much earlier and spent the funds on the beautification of the area.

The garrison city had six tonga stands at Raja Bazaar, Banni Chowk at Saidpur Road, Chungi No 22, Pirwadhai and Saddar where horses take rest.

Before partition of the Indian subcontinent, the tonga stands used to be established in the garrison city.

The route of Tonga was from Saddar to Chungi No 22 and adjoining towns, from Raja Bazaar to Islamabad at Faizabad and from Banni Chowk to Saidpur village via Saidpur Road.

Only two tonga stands provided the glimpse of the past in the garrison city, including Saddar and Banni Chowk. Raja Bazaar Tonga Stand has already been converted into a parking plaza by the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA).

Septuagenarian Shoaib Ahmed, a resident of Babu Mohallah, told Dawn that in the old days the tonga stand provided facility to travel for adjoining towns or to go to Faizabad.

“For shorter distances like Raja Bazaar and other areas, we used to go on foot. The rickshaws and taxis started in the late 70s.” He said the tonga stand should be preserved for the future generation.

Mohammad Rafique, 65, and a resident of Saadi Road, said there was no need to demolish the tonga stand because the energy crisis forced the people to start travelling on tongas instead of petrol or diesel or CNG driven vehicles.

He said the old buildings were being demolished in the name of development but there was a dire need to preserve the old landmarks which tell the better management plans of the past rulers.

“If the tonga stand is demolished, where the suzukis would be parked? It will also create a traffic mess in the area,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2014