Fish shops sealed at Ghanta Ghar

PESHAWAR: The administration sealed 21 fish shops at Ghanta Ghar Bazaar on Tuesday as the renovation of the Heritage Trail entered the final stage.

A special team, led by Director East of the Capital Metropolitan Rehman Khattak and Assistant Commissioner of Peshawar City Lutfur Rahman, sealed the retail fish shops. The owners were directed to shift business to the new location at Chughuplura village on GT Road.

The shops were sealed after the fish shop owners failed to comply with the authorities’ earlier directives to relocate, despite being given a two-week notice.Peshawar Division Commissioner Riaz Khan Mahsud had issued the orders for the relocation of the fish market from Ghanta Ghar Bazaar to Chughalpura, after the provincial government’s directives.

The Peshawarites appreciated the decision of the government as the fish market and people associated with this business had encroached upon public land, making it difficult for them to walk.

The government had heavily invested in the renovation and beautification of historic Ghanta Ghar Bazaar but it lost its charm due to the fish market.Besides, these fish shops were damaging the 124-year-old Cunningham Clock Tower or Ghanta Ghar, the historic city landmark.

Ghanta Ghar monument was constructed in 1900 AD. A municipal engineer, James Strachan, had designed the structure while the fund for the construction was provided by a Hindu Seth, Lala Balmukand.

The family of Lala Balmukand moved to India after the partition. The great granddaughter of Balmukand, Ms Indira Varma, a New Delhi-based Urdu and English poet, visited Ghanta Ghar in 2003 when she was in the city of her birth along with other family members for the first time after the partition.