The provincial government of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has started the process of taking formal custody of the ancestral homes of legendary Bollywood actors Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor, which are situated in the heart of the city, and converting them into museums.
Khalid Mehmud, the Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar, gave final notices to the current owners of the historic buildings on Wednesday and summoned them on May 18.
Previously, the KP government set a price of Rs 1.50 crore for Kapoor's 6.25-marla house and Rs 80 lakh for Kumar's four-marla house, with plans to turn them into museums.
The common unit of area in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh is the marla, which is equivalent to 272.25 square feet or 25.2929 square metres.
Although Ali Qadir, the owner of the Kapoor Haveli, has requested Rs 20 crore, Gul Rehman Mohmand, the owner of Kumar's ancestral home, has suggested that the government purchase it at the market rate of Rs 3.50 crore.
Following the takeover of the two buildings, Dr Abdul Samad, Director of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Archaeology and Museums Department, said that restoration work would begin after Eid-ul-Fitr.
The fabled Qissa Khwani Bazar is where Raj Kapoor's ancestral home, known as Kapoor Haveli, is located. Dewan Basheswarnath Kapoor, the legendary actor's grandfather, built it between 1918 and 1922.
The building is where Raj Kapoor and his uncle Trilok Kapoor were born. The provincial government has designated it as national heritage.
The over 100-year-old ancestral home of veteran actor Dilip Kumar is also in the same area.
The house is in shambles and was designated a national heritage site by the previous government of Nawaz Sharif in 2014.
Because of their prime position, the owners of the two buildings attempted to demolish them in the past for the purpose of constructing commercial plazas, but all such attempts were halted because the archaeology department decided to preserve them due to their historic significance.