RAWALPINDI: The condition of the hundred year old fountain at Fawara Chowk-one of the garrison city’s most famous landmarks-is reflective of the poor state of local administration in the city. Traders allied with the ruling PML-N have recently set up a camp for collection of donations for flood-victims, inside the dysfunctional fountain, while authorities have turned a blind-eye to this encroachment.

Civic bodies such as the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR), Rawal Town Municipal Administration (RTMA), Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) and Parks and Horticulture Agency (PHA) having neglected the fountain for years, allowing it to fall into disrepair and becoming an abode of drug-addicts and homeless laborers.

Religious and political parties, as well as local traders, routinely use the fountain as a place to hang banners proclaiming their slogans and advertising rallies.

Rawal Town Administrator, Imran Qureshi told Dawn that the organizers of the camp had not taken permission from the administration.

Residents complain of administration turning a blind eye to encroachment of landmark

He said that it is against the law to have the camp here, but as the purpose of the camp is the collection of donations for flood affectees the RTMA has not removed the camp. He added that the camp will only be here for a few days.

Mansoor Raza, resident of Aakalgarh, said that he passes by the fountain every day and finds the camp to be an eyesore. He added that the traders could have set-up the camp on the road side, but selected this site for cheap publicity.

Zahid Ahmed, a visitor to Moti Bazaar said that the local administration should renovate the fountain and also develop other green spaces to improve the environment of the city.

He complained that while the government has objected to sit-ins by opposition parties in Islamabad’s Red-Zone, it has allowed its own party members to set up this camp inside the fountain.

PTI MPA Arif Abbasi said that the ruling party thinks that it has the right to establish camps any where in the city, without permission, and there are no rules for them. “This is the main reason why people hate PML-N’s dirty politics and want to get rid of them,” he said.

President Traders Association, Makkah Cloth Market, Sharjeel Mir who has organized the camp defended the selection of the site saying that the idea was to prevent traffic jams. “If we had set up the camp on the roadside it would have impeded the flow of traffic, so we decided to use an otherwise useless fountain for a good cause” He said.

Mir added that the traders had managed to collect Rs. 1.4 million, and relief goods bought with the money will soon be dispatched to flood affected areas.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2014