Okara Food Street Completed for Rs800 Million, All 39 Shops Allotted Through Open Balloting

Okara: The city’s long wait for a proper evening out is over. The Okara food street, built next to the District Courts Complex at a cost of Rs800 million, is complete, and all 39 of its shops have been allotted to applicants through an open balloting.

Who supervised the balloting

The draw was supervised by Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ikram Malik, MNA Chaudhry Riazul Haq Juj and MPA Mian Muhammad Munir, with Municipal Committee Administrator and Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Muhammad Saleem Chishti moderating the event. The split was set aside in advance: 10 shops are reserved for women, 19 went to the general public, and 10 are for city-level branded food businesses, sweets included.

What will be on the menu

Each shopfront has been finished with canopies and colourful lamps, and a safety iron grill runs along the site to keep children and elderly visitors out of harm’s way. The menu reads like a checklist of Punjabi street favourites — kulfi, gol gappay, ice gola, pizza, mutton and chicken karahi, cold drinks, and tea and coffee.

The rents have been kept deliberately low. A small shop costs Rs5,000 a month and a larger one Rs7,500, and to give the new shopkeepers time to find their feet, the first two months are entirely rent-free.