Unesco seeks details of Orange Line train project in Lahore

LAHORE (Web Desk) - The Unesco has reportedly served a written reminder to the Punjab government to reply its earlier letter seeking details of the Orange Line Metro Train Project, particularly the elevated stretch, passing along the Shalamar Gardens, according to Dawn.

Reports said a Unesco team had also visited the Shalamar Gardens and the ongoing civil works being carried out nearby a few days back.

The Shalamar Gardens and the Lahore Fort fall in the world heritage property list.

The World Heritage Centre (cultural division of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) had received a series of reports expressing concerns over the state of conservation of the Shalamar Gardens due to urban development project (Orange Line) being implemented in Lahore by the Punjab government.

Mechtilf Rossier, the director of World Heritage Centre, Unesco, Paris, had on Oct 29 written a letter to ambassador Ghalib Iqbal, a permanent delegate of Pakistan to Unseco, and directed him to contact the government and send details of the project, the Dawn reported.

He had also sought for halting the construction work in this regard.

“If the project is already continuing, I would like to recommend that the portion of the project in the vicinity of the world heritage property be halted forthwith until the advisory bodies review the submitted relevant information and an evaluation on the proposed metro train project,” the Unesco director demands in the letter.