March 4, 2002	Monday	Zilhaj 19, 1422

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MULTAN, March 3: The 114-year-old town hall building has been presenting a rather clumsy look for the last six months as the contractor who was doing the ‘facelift’ work on the colonial era monument disappeared mysteriously.

The building, commonly known as Ghanta Ghar (clock tower), houses the municipality offices since its completion in 1888. Neglect, rising water table and consequent salinity have dangerously damaged the two-storey building, which is 127 feet east-west and 96 feet north-south in the heart of the city near Lahori Gate.

Besides the problem of dampness, frequent alterations in the basic architectural plan of the building have also done no good to the monument. Similarly, the original lime and surkhi (brick dust) mortar on the exterior of the building have been replaced with whitewash and emulsion.

In June, 2001, the bureaucratic set up of the municipal corporation started the so-called facelift project without calling any tenders to restore the original lime and surkhi mortar exterior of the edifice.

The then civil administration was carrying out the project in rather secret manner and in haste. Officials had kept mum over the questions that who was financing the project and to what extent as the complete restoration work required huge funds.

However, the mystery was solved when in its recent publications the Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry claimed to have financed the project. Neither the civil administration nor the ‘invisible’ contractor bothered to engage any archaeologist or a conservationist to carry out the delicate job of the restoration of the building.

To wipe out the thick layers of whitewash and emulsion, the contractor had erected a large structure of single scaffolding by making numerous holes in the already weak and decaying structure. Moreover, the layers were being wiped out through electric grinders.

Though experts raised objections on the project and said it instead was damaging the building, the bureaucracy did not pay any heed and kept the work continue.

But with the introduction of new local government system, the affairs of municipal corporation have been handed over to the elected city tehsil administration along with the town hall building. Since then, the work on the project has been stopped. When contacted, city tehsil Nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar said the contractor had been missing and the tehsil administration was in a fix.