KARACHI: Ill-planning may mar temples’ restoration
By Bhagwandas
KARACHI, Nov 13: There seems to be lack of coordination between the Sindh and the federal governments owing to which both are simultaneously planning to carry out restoration of the Jain Temples, which are protected under the Federal Antiquities Act 1975, in the Thar Desert, it is learnt here reliably.
According to the sources, the government is facing perennial fund scarcity on one hand and on the other conservation of heritage is not a priority. In this backdrop, duplication of work could be wastage of funds which could be spent on other equally neglected conservation projects.
The sources said that the Director General Projects and Special Initiatives Dr Kaleemullah Lashari had submitted a project costing over Rs33 million with the Sindh government for the conservation of the Jain Temple at Bhodiser and development of site which was expected to be approved and implemented shortly.
Located near Nagarparkar, the Bhodiser temple was constructed between 12th and 13th century. Though damaged extensively owing to natural calamities over the centuries and the government’s negligence in its upkeep and nefarious activities of the relic hunters, the temple has still retained its original form to a great extent.
The project document prepared by Mines Inspector Rafique Baloch explaining the damage says that the crowning disc of the temple Sakhara fell along with several layers of stones in 2001 earthquake, while minor earthquake of 2006 caused further loss of upper carved stones of the Sakhara and had resulted in the buckling of the temple walls.
Referring to the man-made damages, the project document says that cement has been used to consolidate the monument and some of the fallen carved stones had been removed from the site.
Responding to the Dawn queries the federal archaeology department’s Sindh Balochistan chief Qasim Ali said that the Jain Temples in Thar were protected under the Antiquities Act 1975 and anybody planning to carry out any work had to submit the proposal to the department. After its review, the department could decide if the NOC is to be issued or not. Without the departmental permission nobody could carry out any kind of work at a protected site.
He said that the archaeology department had also submitted projects, to be funded by the UNESCO and the federal government totalling US$18,000 and over Rs42 million respectively for the restoration of the Jain temples, including the one at Bhodisar in Thar.
Responding to the Dawn queries, Director General Projects and Special Initiatives Dr Kaleemullah Lashari agreed that the archaeology department’s NOC was required to carry out work. But, he said that under this project first an investigational study would be carried out to ascertain what kind of intervention was required following which a work plan would be submitted to the archaeology department for the NOC and the work would be started only after its permission.
He said that the temple was just protected under the federal law, but it was owned by Sindh, and there was no need to get any permission at the present stage.
The sources said that both the departments, probably owing to lack of coordination, were not aware of each other’s projects. Particularly, the Sindh government should get the permission to work on the Jain temple from the federal archaeology department before investing any further resources on its project.
The sources said that if the permission from the federal archaeology department was not obtained the Sindh government might get into trouble as it had carried out ill-planned restoration work on the Ranikot, one of the largest forts in the world, also protected under the Federal Antiquities Act 1975.
