18 October 2004	Monday	03 Ramazan 1425

HYDERABAD, Oct 17: Sindhi Adabi Board secretary Inam Shaikh announced here on Saturday that the board will publish a complete history of Sindh and reprint old books.

He was briefing newsmen about performance of the board during the past one year since he was appointed its secretary.

He said that in 1950 a project to publish the history of Sindh had been launched, adding that some books had been published but the project remained incomplete.

He said that due to absorption of 35 board employees in the education department, the board had been relieved of unnecessary financial burden.

He said that he had pursued the case for an increase in annual grant of the board, which had been increased from Rs5 million to Rs7.5 million. He added that the authorities had recommended to the provincial finance secretary to further increase the grant to Rs10 million.

Answering a question, he said that although the director general of the board was not drawing any salary from the board. But he was living in the secretary's house and getting other facilities.

He said that the board had published material of the Sindh Textbook Board, Unicef and Isra University and earned Rs2 million.

He said that the board was now out of the woods and its employees were regularly getting salaries.

He said that he had streamlined the working of the board's bookshop in Hyderabad as a result its monthly income had increased from Rs22,000 to Rs200,000 and claimed that its annual income had increased to Rs2.4 million in one year against the past sales of Rs2.5 million in seven years.

He said that the development and planning ministry had also approved a grant of Rs30 million for the construction of an auditorium and publication of new books.

The secretary of the board said that the Academy of Letters Islamabad had been approached to help assist in the publication of rare manuscripts.

He said that 50 books which were not available in the market had been reprinted and six new books published by the board in a year.

He said that the board had also given financial aid to the ailing writers and its press unit had been made operational after repairs.