WCLA marked16 buildings to declare “heritage properties “

Lahore : The Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) proposed a list of 16 buildings to be declared as Heritage Properties in its meeting of Heritage Conservation Board here on Friday.

As per the survey conducted by the Building Control and Conservation team of WCLA there are 247 high architectural merit properties inside the walled city Lahore which need to be declared as Heritage properties. Initially 16 would be declared as heritage properties as per the section 23 of WCLA ACT 2012.
The buildings to be declared as Heritage Properties initially include, Haveli Kabli Mal, Dina Nath Haveli, Bej Nath Haveli , Mian Sultan Haveli, Laal Haveli, D-747 , D-748 , D-838 , D-750 , House of Allama Iqbal B-597, A-12, Neevin Masjid, Victoria High School, Haveli Dhyan Singh, Wazir Khan Mosque and Mariam Zamani Mosque.
The members of the HCB who were present in the meeting included Yousaf Sallahuddin (Chairman of HCB), Kamran Lashari (Director General WCLA), Nayyer Ali Dada ( Architect), Faqir Syed Saifuddin ( owner of Faqir Khana Museum), representative of Archaeology Department Punjab whereas three representative of the Honorable Lahore High Court on the directions of Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi. These included Kamil Khan Mumtaz (Architect), Ejaz Anwar (Painter) and Anas Ghazi Advocate.
The Deputy Director Building Control WCLA Mubashir Hassan said that it was important to share the list of properties to be declared as heritage with the Heritage Conservation Board of WCLA.

“The board has given a clear go ahead to declare these properties as heritage properties and after fulfilling other legalities WCLA would declare them as Heritage Properties. The board would be meeting after every fifteen days to review the list of other properties to be declared as Heritage Properties. Once the properties are declared as Heritage, the owner would not be able to add or change anything in the building without the approval and consent of WCLA”, Mubashir said.
The Director General WCLA Kamran Lashari was of the view that to save the heritage fabric of the city and to restore the heritage buildings it was important to declare the high architecture merit buildings in the city as Heritage Properties. “Our heritage is our identity and we would take all steps to save and preserve it”, Lashari concluded.