The dust and smoke cloud that marks Lahore these days is a sign the city is witnessing some major ‘development’ works. These works are visibly addressing the city’s transport and traffic problem in the form of mega projects like the Orange Line Train project and a signal free corridor.

From the point of view of the rulers of the city, these projects make huge political sense. After all, they have already reaped the dividends of the Metro bus project launched in their last tenure. And it would be justified to expect them to replicate the model wherever they can.

So far so good. Except that there are naysayers who do not share this vision of the city’s rulers and who Kamil Khan Mumtaz likes to call ‘liberal intellectuals’. They began by protesting the felling of hundreds of trees as a consequence of these projects because they were not convinced that this was the right transport solution for the city. This was at the time of canal widening project and they pointed at other crucial problems faced by the city like education and health facilities, clean drinking water, no sewerage system for a big majority, etc.

As the mega projects got underway, these have not been the only concerns of the liberal intellectual ‘elite’. They are equally worried about "lack of transparency, democracy, consultative politics, history, culture and so on". They are shocked at how the monstrous infrastructure facilities are turning the city into a concrete jungle, taking away the city they knew without even asking those to whom it belongs.

But what has really triggered the liberal intellectuals to articulate their collective anger is how these current projects aim to harm the hundreds of years of heritage of the city. As news spread about Shalamar Gardens, Chauburji, Gulabi Bagh Gateway, Dai Anga’s Tomb and Buddhu Ka Awa and then many colonial era buildings, including General Post Office being at risk of severe damage by the proposed route of the rapid transit system, the liberal elite found many supporters among those who seemed unmoved at the cutting of old trees.

This is because the city planners may have assured plantation of many more trees in the place of those that were cut, they can not raise another Chauburji or Shalamar Garden or even a GPO.

Of course, this is not the first time that the heritage of the city has been under threat. We have consistently lost our heritage and history, the gardens and tombs, and most of it has gone unnoticed. We’ve been exceptionally unkind to landmarks. To his credit, the elder Sharif brother when he was the chief minister of Punjab in early 1990s razed the centuries’ old Kamran’s Baradari in River Ravi, replacing the beautiful brick structure with a marble one.

Contrast this with a penchant for speed and big roads and an utter disregard for that diminishing species called the pedestrian and you have covered substantial distance on Lahore’s road to development.