Construction of multi-storey plaza irks University Town dwellers

PESHAWAR: The construction of a multi-storey residential plaza has created unrest among the residents of University Town.

“The multi-storey residential plaza is being constructed in front of my house. We feel uncomfortable in our houses and the women are confined to rooms as they cannot come out,” said a resident of University Town Rasheedullah Khan Kundi.

His family is living in a house allotted to him in the Postal Colony of Pakistan Post.

He said the windows of the flats faced their houses. “It would be a permanent headache for the people living in the houses around the multi-storey building. They would be worried all the time that they are being watched by someone,” Rasheedullah Kundi added. The resident said the construction of the building would violate their privacy. “In Pakhtun society women observe a strict purdah. It is not possible for our women to come out to the courtyard as they feel uncomfortable and insecure inside their own houses,” he pointed out.

Another citizen, Zahid Ali, said that he and other residents had time and again conveyed their reservations and concerns to the University Town administration and the developers of the plaza, but to no avail.

“We took up the issue with the relevant government departments when we saw the advertisement about the construction of the plaza some three years ago,” he recalled.

He said the privacy of the people living on both sides of the old Bara Road had been affected by the construction of tall buildings.

Rasheedullah Kundi said the tall buildings being constructed in a sensitive area near the Bacha Khan International Airport also posed security risk.

He reminded that a similar 12-storey residential plaza had already been constructed in the locality. “The runway of the airport can be seen from atop the buildings. These buildings can be used to stage attacks on an airplane or another target,” he argued.

The resident said that he had served a legal notice on the developers to stop the construction work and would move the court of law if they refused to stop the work.

He asked the authorities concerned to take note of the construction of such huge structures in the residential area or else they would launch protest against it.