Staff Reporter
How would you feel if someone came and painted your house five colours: red, turquoise, blue, green and yellow? Probably not so great. But then, how would you feel if they did it because they thought your house was ugly?
This is what happened to 127 families whose houses are in a katchi abadi by the airport in Lahore in Dheer village. The district administration never asked the people what colour they might want for their house.
“They looked weird,” said Lahore Commissioner Zulfiqar Ghumman. “Now you can see the difference.”
The only problem is that the people who actually live there are unhappy with the decision foisted on them, something which often happens in poor communities run by bureaucrats who never both to involve the people in decision-making.
“It should have been a decent colour,” said one young man. “That everyone would see and not object to. But look, there are multiple colours here.”
Another man said they did not like these colours at all. “Don’t know what kind of colours they have chosen.”
As part of the Sona Lahore project, the officers said more katchi abadis would be painted. Liberty Chowk got the same treatment.
