LAHORE: Hundreds of thousands of workers will go jobless and their families will have to face starvation if Lahore Development Authority (LDA) continued its campaign against marriage halls/marquees operating across the city.
This was stated by Hafiz Muhammad Rauf, President Lahore Marriage Halls Owners Association (South Zone), in a press conference held here Monday. The press conference was called after the meeting of marriage hall association in which dozens of owners of marriage halls participated and expressed concern over the ongoing media campaign of LDA against marriage halls.
He said over 150,000 workers, including waiters, electricians, decorators, caterers, cooks are directly associated with the business of marriage halls/marquees while another large segment of business community i.e. meat and flower suppliers, decorators and etc is also associated with the industry indirectly.
“Closure of marriage halls will result in starvation of families of all these workers and associated business communities,” he said, adding the marriage halls/marquees are also a big source of tax collection for the government as all pay sales tax, income tax and other taxes to FBR, PRA and other government institutions.
In case the marriage halls are closed down, citizens will start using roads and parks for marriage ceremonies, which will create more problems for the society, Rauf said and suggested that all existing marriage halls/marquees should be regularised after getting fines/payments.
As a citizen of Pakistan we have all rights to run a business at own purchased land, said Sheikh Abdul Waheed, secretary of the association. He said LDA has attached the entire parking problem of the city with marriage halls, which is not correct as marriage functions mostly held between 6pm to 10pm whereas severe parking problems are also created by schools, colleges, universities, offices, commercial centres and hospitals during the day time.
He said all marriage halls should be given a chance to rectify mistakes and LDA should regularise them against payment of fine on the pretext of violation in building by-laws as it does with commercial buildings and other violators instead of thinking about closure of marriage halls.
He said that for the past many years, LDA was receiving annual commercialisation fee from almost every marriage hall/marquee and now suddenly they are declaring these buildings illegal. “If we are illegal then why LDA got commercialisation fee from us,” he questioned.
Other members of the association also spoke on the occasion and appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to constitute a commission to resolve this issue. They said a six-month time should be given to the marriage halls to rectify minor and small problems while the commission should meet all stakeholders and a new comprehensive policy should be made in the light of the final report of the commission.
Training: Virtual University (VU) of Pakistan has developed “Technical Training Course on Power Planning and Analysis” through distance learning for Saarc energy centre. In this regard an inaugural ceremony was organised at VU’s MA Jinnah Campus which was also attended by VU Rector Dr Naveed A Malik. According to a press release, this distance learning programme will benefit all Saarc members.
Speaking on the occasion, the rector said this course would be a major element for economic prosperity of South Asia towards energy issues of the member states. Engr Salis Usman, Programme leader of Saarc energy centre Islamabad, acknowledged Virtual University for development of curriculum designs and production of video lectures for all Saarc states. Saarc energy centre was created through Dhaka Declaration in 2005 as special purpose vehicle to realise vision of Saarc leaders to establish an energy ring in South Asia.