RAWALPINDI:
Underground cabling and beautification in Saddar’s business bazaar, the one mega venture initiated by the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) in 2024 remained a bone of rivalry between the Cantonment administration and the enterprise group.
The Rs2 billion venture remained a supply of controversy primarily due to the non-construction of two parking plazas and visitors mismanagement.
The enterprise group has introduced a sit-in outdoors the RCB workplace on January 6, a mass protest and a two-hour shutter-down strike.
The Saddar’s business space, comprising Financial institution Street, Hyder Street, Kashmir Street, Adamji Street, King Street and Mall Street, has turn into a full strolling road of Financial institution Street, with restricted parking websites after Potohar One and Potohar Two.
By diverting visitors to different roads, the issue of parking has complexed. Contemplating this proposal, resulting from some causes, two multi-storied parking plazas can’t be constructed in Saddar. Moreover, no progress has been made in establishing a parking space on the state-owned GTS bus terminal on Adamjee Street so the rule of time-bound parking is being utilized within the Pothohar One and Pothohar Two parking areas. The parking charge is elevated by Rs50 each one hour.
Whereas parking on different roads has elevated to such an extent that the visitors disaster has intensified on these roads as properly.
The enterprise group complains that the enterprise actions on Financial institution Street, which owns the most important enterprise centre of Saddar’s business space, are badly affected. It is turning into troublesome for the shopkeepers to pay the electrical energy payments and proceed their companies on this state of affairs, they add.
Zafar Qadri, the final secretary of Anjuman Tajran Rawalpindi Cantt, phrases the underground cabling and beautification venture as a wonderful venture, however says resulting from insufficient parking system, enterprise actions have been badly affected.
“Consumers have turned to the business market and Islamabad. Businessmen are left with no different possibility however to shut their outlets and sack workers. How will the merchants handle the salaries of workers, rents of the outlets and electrical energy payments when there isn’t a buyer,” he questioned. Qadri stated that the shopkeepers would stage a sit-in outdoors the RCB workplace on January 6.
RCB spokesman Assistant Secretary Rashid Saqib says efforts are in place to broaden the parking capability within the business space in Saddar. Potohar One parking which is related to Hyder Street Financial institution Street additionally has ample parking capability whereas extra parking capability is being organized, he provides.
So far as the development of parking plazas is anxious, the Board doesn’t have the sources for this.