RAWALPINDI: The parking lot at the Liaquat Memorial Hall has become a bone of contention between the National College of Arts (NCA) Rawalpindi Campus and Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) and City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR).

WASA and CDGR`s Rawalpindi Municipal Waste Company (RWMC) parked over 63 garbage dumper trucks in the parking lot of the historical Liaquat Bagh and Liaquat Memorial Hall and barred visitors and NCA students from parkingtheircars there.

Liaquat Bagh has significance in the country`s political history as two prime minister of the country Liaquat Ali Khan and BenazirBhutto were assassinated here, the Liaquat Memorial Hall was constructed following the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan.

In 2012, the CDGR shifted the parking for garbage dumpers from Satellite Town B-Block to Liaquat Memorial Hall and WASA also began parking its dumpers and water tankers here.

The visitors of Liaquat Bagh and Liaquat Memorial Hall were forced to park their vehicles on the main road as people, other than CDGR and WASA staff, were barred from entering the parking lot.

A problem emerged two days ago when NCA stopped allowing visitors and students to bring their cars on the premises of the NCA Rawalpindi Campus.

When NCA students, teachers and staff tried to park their vehi-cles in the parking area of Liaquat Memorial Hall, WASA officials closed the gates of the Liaquat Hall.

NCA students and visitors were forced to park their vehicles on main Liaquat Road and brought the issue to the notice of the NCA Director Dr Nadeem Omer Tarrar.

Mr Tarrar contacted the District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sajid Zafar Dall and asked for help in resolving the issue.

The NCA Director told Dawn that under the government directives, vehicles have been barred from entering the campus since the last two weeks.

`As an alternative, we asked the students and visitors to park their vehicles at the Liaquat Memorial Hall parking but the WASA security staff blocked the entry of thevehicles and threatened them,` he said.

He said the NCA contacted the DCO to request him to provide space at the Liaquat Memorial Hall parking as the vehicles parked on main road created traffic congestion and students did not feel the cars were safe.

However, he said he has not received a response from the local administration so far.

When contacted, WASA Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood said the WASA and NCA would resolve the issue soon. He said the WASA would provide space to the students and visitors for parking at the Liaquat Memorial Hall.

He said he assigned officials the task of resolving the issue through discussions with NCA staff.