Arts council building awaits reconstruction

MURREE, March 28: Work on the reconstruction of the arts council building here, which collapsed about five years back, has not yet been started though funds have already been released for the project. The building collapsed due to digging of nearby land for the construction of a multi-storey commercial plaza. An FIR was registered against the owner of the plaza but the case could not be pursued.In the year 1986, the building of a commercial cinema was purchased and converted into the arts council. When resident director arts council Abrar Alam was contacted, he said the building collapsed due to digging but the then Town Municipal Administrator Irfan Saleem Butt tried to give the impression that the collapse was due to a storm, not digging of land. He said Rs42.32 million had been released for the reconstruction of the building and work on the project would be started in two weeks. After coming to power, Punjab Chief Mi nister Shahbaz Sharif set up a committee headed by the commissioner of Rawalpindi and on its recommendations the funds were released last year. Tenders were also floated. When contacted, deputy director (buildings) Mohammad Younus said funds had been released for the project in February but due to bad weather work could not be started yet.