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| August 10, 2005 | Wednesday | Rajab 4, 1426 |
Punjab to take over 147 monuments
LAHORE, Aug 9: The Punjab has finally given “conditional approval” for taking over the 147 federally administered monuments, including the archaeological remains of Taxila and Rohtas Fort, which are on the World Heritage List.
The federal culture ministry had expressed willingness of handing over its monuments to the Punjab and sought comments from it in January.
The finance department, however, had objected to the proposal saying that the provincial archaeology department should first develop its capacity in this respect.
Besides, it had pointed out that the federal archaeology department’s annual budget for the staff’s salary and repair and maintenance of 147 monuments was Rs36 million.
“The Punjab is required to develop a fund before formally taking over the federal monuments.”
Some officials of the provincial government had also objected that mere transfer of the monuments would do no good as it also required the federal staff as well as the other allied facilities like museums of Harappa and Taxila and the Central Archaeology Laboratory, the Lahore Fort Library and the Pakistan Institute of Archaeology Training and Research (PIATR).
A senior officer of the Punjab government told Dawn on Tuesday that the chief minister had approved the project with certain conditions.
“The Punjab is now willing to take over the federally administered monuments provided the federal government gives the required staff, museums, the laboratory, the library and the research institute,” he informed.
He said the summery in this regard would be sent to the federal culture ministry in a couple of days for submission to the cabinet for approval.
The officer said a fund of Rs50 million had also been approved by the Punjab for the staff’s salary and repair of the monuments.
Establishment of three zones of the provincial archaeology department had also been proposed in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad. A separate fund of Rs15 million would be created for it, he added.
The Lahore Fort and Shalamar Gardens, which are also on the WHL, had been transferred to the Punjab last year.
It may, however, be mentioned that the Punjab had sought approval from the finance department for recruitment of 55 people, including monuments director, two deputy directors and tourist guides, to run the affairs of the Lahore Fort and the Shalamar Gardens. It has yet to be approved.
The archaeology department officials, however, claimed that after inducting the staff from the federal government it might not need to recruit new staff for the upkeep and running the affairs of these monuments.
The federal archaeology department has 147 monuments in the Punjab, 88 in the NWFP, 127 in Sindh and 28 in Balochistan.
The Punjab Archaeology Department has 246 monuments, Sindh has only few and the NWFP and Balochistan have none under their control.
The federal archaeology department has more than 1,100 employees and the staff of all the provincial archaeology departments is about 250.
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