Lahore Model Town

Model Town Society (Punjabi, ur, ) is a gated neighbourhood in Gulberg, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.

History

Model Town, established in 1921, is a fruition of Dewan Khem Chand's lifelong dream to see the establishment of what he called “Garden Town”. Advocate Khem Chand's unshakeable belief in the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity are the values of cooperation upon which the principles of cooperative societies are founded and the reason Model Town was established as and still is a cooperative society. On Sunday, 27 February 1922, about 200 persons assembled in Lahore's Town Hall under the chairmanship of Rai Bahadur Ganga Ram and decided to establish a cooperative housing society to be named as a garden town. The meeting approved Diwan Khem Chand's proposed housing scheme based on cooperative principles in the suburbs of Lahore to solve housing problems and to provide improved sanitary and better living facilities for the residents, and thus the government was requested to provide a 2000-acre (4 km²) plot of land.

The residents of Model Town, who owned their spacious houses, were retired judges, rich businessmen, traders and upmarket store-owners. Many high court judges, doctors and engineers had also moved to Model Town from the city. Included among the residents of this best laid-out residential estate of Lahore were college professors and officers of the civil service. The communist leader BPL Bedi, who had studied at British and German universities, lived here. His son Kabir Bedi became a famous actor in post-independence India. As of March 2015, Saifur Rehman was elected president of the Model Town Society, marking his second term in office.

Model Town Society

A preliminary committee of 21 members was formed under the chairmanship of Khan Bahadur Sir Sh. Abdul Qadir to frame the by-laws and to carry out other necessary work associated with the formation of the society. As a result, The Cooperative Model Town Society Limited was formed and subsequently registered under the Cooperative Societies Act II of 1912 in 1924. The principle aims of the Society were:

* To conceive, design, develop and maintain a garden town.
* To buy or otherwise acquire land, buildings, and other moveable and immovable property.
* To provide services and construct, manage and maintain works, and other infrastructure of various kinds for the convenience and benefit of the resident members.
* To sell, mortgage, and lease land, houses, homesites, buildings, and all moveable or immovable property as necessary for carrying out the objects of the society.
* To build residential houses and other buildings for private and public use and for the convenience of members etc.

On 1 April 1941, the Government of the Punjab transferred 1,963 acres (7.9 km²) situated in Rakh, Kot Lakhpat Tehsil, District, Lahore and the transfer deed was registered with the Sub-Registrar, Lahore, on 25 April 1941.

Competition to select layout design (map) of Model Town

Dewan Khem Chand had propose his ideas about the layout plan of the Society in his first pamphlet; this was to become the basic guide on which the layout was later planned. A 'Design Selection Committee' was formed to select a suitable layout plan. A competition was held and the Society received thirty-two plans which were displayed for exhibition to the members of the Society on 17 and 18 December 1922. This was also visited on 17 December 1922 by the Governor, Sir Edward Maclagan.

The Designs Committee of The Society was not able to select any single plan. Consequently, The Committee shortlisted the following four plans (maps) which give interesting suggestions:

1. 'Dilnagar80' by Mr. G. K. Trilokekar, Architect, Bombay;
2. 'Commonsense' by Mr. S. C. Paul, Architect, Calcutta;
3. 'Jupiter' by Mr. N. L. Verma, Architect Allahabad; and
4. 'Dilemma' by Dr. J. B. Sahni Lahore.

The prize money was distributed evenly among these four competitors. The Design Committee then assigned Mr. N. L. Verma; one of the prize-winners to combine the ideas from these four shortlisted plans into one master plan (map). For this additional work he was awarded a further Rs. 500.

The final design was approved by the Government of Punjab.

Evacuee property

The Society was declared Evacuee property after the Indo-Pak partition in 1947, as about 1100 out of 1300 members emigrated to India.

The case went to Chairman Rehabilitation Committee and they gave the historic decision in 1960 that the Society should pay Rs 100 and all assets and liabilities were shifted back to the Society. It was then placed under the management of Riaz-ud-Din Ahmad, agent to the custodian for Model Town. On 19 March 1962, 25 representatives of the Model Town Society held a meeting under the chairmanship of Khawaja Hafiz-ullah and discussed the legal status of the Society and further steps to be taken in connection with the reconstitution. As a result, the institution was registered as The Cooperative Model Town Society (1962) Limited, Lahore on 9 January 1963 by the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Lahore Region. New bylaws of the society were registered under the Cooperative Societies Act 1925. The basic tenets of the society, however, continued to be the same as were originally planned, namely "to promote the economic and social interests of its members, particularly to plan, establish and maintain a garden town".

Administrator takeover

The Society, unfortunately, could not maintain its standards and the management staggered until April 1982 when the administrator was forced to take over the Society. The management of the Society was superseded under MLO No. 856, dated 30 March 1982. The general body and the managing committee were dissolved. All the powers and functions of the managing committee and general body were vested in the administrator. The legal status of the society continues to be a Cooperative Society registered under the Cooperative Societies Act 1925, supervised and controlled by the Registrar, Cooperatives Punjab, Lahore. please provide the copy of MLO No.856 dated 30-3-1982

Return of the elected managing committee and general body

After a lapse of twenty years the Supreme Court of Pakistan restored the society in July 2002. Accordingly, elections were held in September 2002 under the supervision of the cooperative department. Members voted to elect a new management committee on 29 September 2002, which consisted of President Khalid Ikram Malik, Vice President Tahir A Khan, and 20 members of the Managing Committee (2 from each block) and five nominated / ex-officio members. This MC was dissolved by the Registrar within 18 months for incompetence. For two years again, the Administrator ruled the Society.

The first managing committee after restoration took over the office on 23 October 2002. This MC worked for 17 months only after which it was sacked by the Registrar for incompetence. In November 2005, on the orders of former Chief Minister Punjab, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, new elections were ordered. Elections were held in Dec 2005, and retired Colonel Tahir H. Kardar was elected as President and took over the charge with Tahir A. Khan as Vice President. The new managing committee completed many projects and approved its first welfare-oriented budget for the fiscal year 2005–2006. Special attention was given to the development projects in the budget. An amount of Rs. 20 million was allocated for the construction of a Community Center which had remained on papers for many years. Similarly, 15 million were allocated for widening, re-paving and repairing the roads. In order to improve the water supply system, five new tube-wells were installed and rusted water pipelines were replaced. An amount of Rs. 10 million was allocated for this project. A new truck and 25 new transformers were purchased to upgrade the electricity system. Computerization of the office records was undertaken and more technical staff and professionals were recruited to improve efficiency.

The society's administration took up a number of steps for the welfare of the residents:

* Property cess was decreased from 3.5% to 2.5% of the registered value.
* Legal heirs were exempted from transfer fees and other liabilities.
* The electricity rates were subsidized and a relief of over 2.40 Rs. per kWh was given to the members as well as the work members.
* Corruption charges of 4 billion rupees on saif ur rehman is pending in anti corruption department which is being anxiously waited
*

Area and population

Model Town Society is spread over an area of 1463 acres (5.9 km²). This area is further divided into ten blocks (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K). Blocks L, M, N, P, Q, R and S are in the outskirts of Model Town and are administered by Lahore Development Authority (LDA). These blocks were named "Model Town Extension" when Model Town Society sold this land to LDA in return of developmental works.

The breakdown of the total area is as follows:

* Residential: = 56%
* Commercial: = 2%
* Roads: = 19%
* Nurseries and playgrounds: = 4%
* Green area (parks): = 19%

The total population of Model Town is about 100,000. Model Town Society is a unique housing area in its design and is considered a posh locality of the town. Each block has its own market, playground, mosque, triangular parks, etc., which is a rare phenomenon as compared to other housing schemes.

Model Town then and now

Following the economic liberalization of Pakistan in the post-9/11 era, Model Town has benefited from the remarkable increment of social elites in Lahore. Not too long ago, Model Town was regarded as the establishment's residential dead zone.

Taxis and rickshaws were reluctant to come to Model Town due to its distance from the main city, and many social elites dubbed the development "out of Lahore", given its distance from the heart of the city. However, since the 1980s, Model Town has become a cultural center for Lahore's growing socioeconomic elite, many of whom who view a Model Town address as a vehicle for upward mobility in socially rigid Pakistan.

During the regime of President General Zia-ul-Haq, General Jilani (then Martial Governor of the Punjab) took extensive interest in rehabilitating Model Town, which had fallen into obscurity following the exodus of Lahore's non-Muslim elites after partition. An initiative to refurbish the image of Model Town to its former glory in colonial days was launched in the early 1980s.

Electric supply lines were relaid, street lights & sewage system installed, roads improved, and central Model Town park was developed per the original plan from the 1920s. Further modernization, renovation of gardens and the influx of large numbers of upper and upper-middle class Lahoris helped redefine the rundown development's image and status.

Many architects, developers, and town planners regard Model Town as the best place to live in the entire city of Lahore. The ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif maintains a home and holds an office in the society, while recently deceased former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is said to have maintained a home here. Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, MNA and son of Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, Mian Mohammad Shafi (meem-sheen) a senior journalist and many other MNAs, MPAs and bureaucrats also reside in the area. Several national sports personalities like Wasim Akram, Rameez Raja, Ijaz Ahmed and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi live or used to live in Model Town. Other notable personalities who have lived in Model Town include the writer, intellectual and spiritualist Ashfaq Ahmed; left-wing intellectual and revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz; Intellectualist and Dramatist Naeem Tahir and his wife, Broadcaster Yasmeen Tahir; Legendary writer and first woman pilot Hijab Imtiaz Ali; Pakistani poet who wrote the lyrics for the National Anthem of Pakistan, Abu Al-Asar Hafeez Jullundhri; secular veteran journalist, syndicated columnist and political analyst Hassan Nisar