KARACHI, July 3: The Sindh culture department is paying just around Rs1.7 million as honorarium to over 500 renowned aging artists of the province annually, it is learnt.
According to the sources the people who get the honorarium — the amount of which is ridiculously low and ranges between Rs500 and Rs1,500 a year — include poets, writers, artists, journalists, and widows of prominent artists.
The sources said that until a few years ago the department used to disburse around Rs2.1 million among artists annually, but then the government introduced economic cuts and deserving artists were deprived of Rs400,000 from their annual allocation of Rs2.1 million, which then shrunk to Rs1.7 million.
The sources said that for the past few years the department had been disbursing around Rs1.7 million among poor, aging and deserving artists, and even to get that meagre amount — ranging between Rs 500 and Rs 1,500 a year — the artists had to make many visits to the disbursement centre which kept on changing; earlier it used to be the deputy commissioner’s offices, then the department’s offices and so on.
The sources said that some time back the department had written to the federal government to give it some funds so that the artists’ honorarium could be enhanced. But the federal government said that the Sindh government was already spending more amount— on giving honorarium to the artists — than the other provinces, and refused the give any amount to the Sindh government for the purpose.
The sources said that due to the lengthy procedures of the department usually the artists do not get the required or even the promised aid in time. Citing an example they said that Sindh governor Ishratul Ibad had ordered that ailing artist Mujeeb Alam be paid an one-time grant of Rs 200,000 for his knee operation, and Rs 4,000 be paid to him on monthly basis.
The sources said that though the Sindh government approved Rs200,000 one-time grant to Mujeeb Alam for knee operation, his monthly honorarium of Rs4,000 was yet to be approved by the Sindh government. They wondered if that was the case of an artist for whom the governor had desired that he be paid the money, what could be happening to the artists who did not have anyone influential following their case.
Responding to the Dawn queries the spokesperson for the Sindh Culture Department said that the department has asked the chief minister that keeping in view the ever increasing inflation, and the honorarium fixed many years back, the funds of Rs 1.7 million be doubled to around Rs 3.4 million so that the artists could be paid at least double the amount that they are getting at present.
He said that the department had also asked the provincial chief executive to give at least Rs 10 million more so that an artists welfare fund be established, which could be used for the benefit of artists in emergency situations.
He said at present there was no provision for emergency funds, and if an emergency occurred and the department asked the finance department for funds, by the time the funds were made available, if at all, the emergency usually had passed, so the funds became useless to suffering artists. About Mujeeb Alam, the spokesman said the singer had already been paid Rs200,000 as one-time aid for knee operation, and as far as Rs4,000 per month honorarium was concerned, the finance department had not yet approved the amount. He added that as soon as it was granted, the singer would be paid the amount.
