LAHORE, April 5: Governor Khalid Maqbool will inaugurate the 960th three-day annual Urs of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh by laying a floral wreath at his shrine on April 9.
At a press conference here on Monday, Punjab Auqaf Minister Sahibzada Syed Saeedul Hasan Shah said the governor would also inaugurate a milk sabeel after laying the floral wreath.
He said a two-day mehfil-i-samaa would also be held during the Urs which would be broadcast by Radio Pakistan from 10pm to midnight. A number of symposiums would be held on the life and teachings of the saint starting from Tuesday. A mushaira and a mehfil-i-naat would be held at the Darbar Mosque on April 7 and 8, respectively.
The minister said the Auqaf department had earmarked a sum of Rs2.5 million for providing facilities to the devotees during the Urs. Closed-circuit cameras were being installed at the gates while the number of guards being increased for security.
He said the annual income of Data Darbar had increased to Rs100 million. The department was spending Rs80 million on the maintenance of the Darbar Complex and providing free treatment to the people at the Darbar Hospital.
He said the Auqaf department collected Rs376.187 million from the shrines and attached properties every year. It had spent Rs80 million on the renovation of the shrines of Hazrat Sakhi Sarwar, Dera Ghazi Khan; Hazrat Baba Fariduddin Ganj Shakkar, Pakpattan; Hazrat Baba Bulleh Shah, Kasur; Uchh Sharif and a number of other projects.
A grand mosque had been built adjacent to the shrine of Hazrat Baba Bulleh Shah, and the federal government had provided Rs30 million for further improvement of the shrine by 2005.
He said the shrines of Hazrat Badhshan, Khushab, Hazrat Turt Murad, Bagh-i-Jinnah, Lahore, Darbar Mai Heer, Jhang, Darbar Mitha Masoom, Sargodha, Darbar Imam Ali-ul Haq, Sialkot, and Darbar Hazrat Abdul Razzaq, Kasur, were under-renovation at present.
