The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government of Pakistan yesterday (1st June) approved the purchase of the ancestral homes of legendary Bollywood stars Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor for converting them into museums. The objections of the owners of both the houses were rejected by Peshawar district commissioner Captain (retd.) Khalid Mehmud. After announcing the award, he transferred the ownership of the two houses to the archaeological department.
The KP government had fixed the price for purchase of Raj Kapoor’s 6.25-marla house at Rs. 1.50 crore, and of Dilip Kumar’s 4-marla house at Rs. 80 lakh. Marla is a traditional unit of area used in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. One marla equals 272.25 square feet or 25.2929 square metres.