SIALKOT: Work on “Great Wall of Sialkot” at Allama Iqbal Chowk started one and half years back but it could not be completed due to paucity of funds and alleged slackness of the Sialkot Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA).

The TMA had started this project with the funds donated by the philanthropists. The then commissioner of Gujranwala Division, Shamail Ahmad Khwaja, had inaugurated the project, saying the 300-foot long wall would be built to pay homage to Allama Iqbal.

TMA officials said the wall would reflect Sialkot’s history, culture and industry and it would have a mural of Iqbal’s poetry.

They said work on the project had been lying suspended since May 2016 (for the last seven months).

The renovation of Sialkot city’s other important roundabouts has also been suspended by the district administration due to unknown reasons.

Tehsil Municipal Officer (TMO) Muhammad Zafar Qureshi said the wall project was launched with the money donated by the philanthropists and the work had been suspended as the funds donated by philanthropists were over.

He said the TMA had not spent even a single penny from the local government funds on the project and the TMA was waiting for more donations from the donors to complete the project.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2016