Renovation work at Raja Bazaar to kick off soon

Rawalpindi : The Deputy Commissioner (DC), Rawalpindi Tahir Farooq has directed starting of renovation work at Raja Bazaar. The deputy commissioner along with Town Municipal Corporation (TMA) officers and Parks and Horticultural Authority (PHA) officers on Friday visited the Raja Bazaar and directed immediate removal of illegal encroachments from all areas to start renovation work.

The Raja Bazaar would be renovated with tuff tiles. He also directed the widening of footpaths of Raja Bazaar with tuff tiles. He also outlined a plan to cut down the area of Fawara Chowk to widen the roads from all sides. The PHA will make a master plan for the beautification of the bazaar.

The deputy commissioner has also expressed grave concerns over ever-increasing encroachments in Raja Bazaar. He was also unhappy at the illegal parking all around in Raja Bazaar.

Raja Bazaar is a historic urban centre of Rawalpindi, comprising a multitude of bazaars. It has a strategic location with a mix of commercial and semi-residential areas with forms a juncture of six major roads at Fawwara Chowk.

The local management is already in process of making a master plan to start improving the outlook of historical Raja Bazaar in coordination with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The local management has planned to remove all Suzuki and wagon stands from Raja Bazaar.

The local management spokesman Shahid Shah told ‘The News’ that the newly appointed deputy commissioner along with senior officers of TMA and PHA visited Raja Bazaar and directed to start its renovation work to improve its outlook. He has directed to clear the whole areas from illegal encroachments and illegal parking, he said. The local management has planned to renovate Raja Bazaar with tuff tiles, he claimed. He said that the deputy commissioner has planned to install tiles from College Road to Raja Bazaar.

No doubt, Raja Bazaar is culturally rich but there are several problems such as high density, unplanned land use, traffic congestion, weak parking system, ever-increasing encroachments, weak housing infrastructure, and lack of tourism despite its rich cultural history.

“The bazaar will be turned into pedestrian streets in the evening so people could visit the area to see the culture of the Potohar region and historical Raja Bazaar and also go to the food street which will be established in Bhabara Bazaar from Murree Road to Sarafa Bazaar,”. The food street was being constructed on the pattern of the old city.

The citizens of garrison city have strongly appreciated the plan and appealed to the higher authorities to start renovation work soon.