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Staff Report

LAHORE: The Lahore Bachao Tehreek (LBT) – or the Save Lahore Movement – has decided to resort to legal proceedings against a project to widen Canal Road, Daily Times learnt after an LBT meeting on Monday.

The meeting – which was held at Nairang Art Gallery and was attended by students, members of civil society, rights activists and others – also decided to approach Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and brief him on how the project could affect the city’s outlook.

LBT Convener Imrana Tiwana briefed the meeting on the drawbacks of the project, while other participants said the project was “tantamount to wasting Rs 3.5 billion … it would also deprive citizens of their heritage and environmental assets”.

The activists said if trees were felled along the canal, it would harm citizens’ health and destroy the beauty of the city.

Imrana Tiwana said that only 8 percent of the population of the city owned cars, and the project was “aimed at facilitating only these 8 percent people … 500 acres of public land along both sides of the canal will be taken away from Lahoris”. She said the project would be an environmental disaster because of the high levels of pollution in the city.

The participants demanded that the canal be beautified by taking care of its green belts and planting more trees along the sides instead of felling them.

They said old cities’ heritage across the world was being sacrificed on the pretext of development. “Development doesn’t mean depriving people of their cultural assets,” they said.

Participants also agreed to launch a campaign at various educational institutions – including National College of Arts (NCA), LUMS and Kinnaird College – to save trees along the canal.

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