April 08, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 19, 1428

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

Lahore, April 7: The National Assembly’s standing committee on culture has decided that management of 147 monuments (situated in Punjab) will be transferred to the provincial government in a month’s time, it is learnt.

The committee met in Islamabad on Saturday.

Punjab Archeology director general Auriya Maqbool Jan reportedly gave a `comprehensive presentation’ on the works his department has done to improve the condition of federal monuments (Lahore Fort and Shalamar) already handed over to the province.

In the marathon meeting, Jan gave a `detailed account of improvements’ done from the conservation point of view. He said the Punjab Archeology Department had removed half a century old electric poles from the surroundings of Lahore Fort, updated and shaped the Hazoori Bagh, did `remarkable’ conservation work on Katas Raj fort.

He reportedly told the meeting that the Getty Foundation had given $250,000 grant to the Punjab Archeology Department after being impressed by the work done.

The committee assured Maqbool that in a month’s time the 147 monuments would be transferred to Punjab after the summary approval by the prime minister.

The committee said this time there would be no bureaucratic hurdles in the transfer of monuments. Sources said before Maqbool’s presentation, the federal archeology department had also given a presentation to the standing committee. “Their (federal) point of view was not accepted by the committee members,” sources claimed.

The committee decided that after one year of the transfer of the monuments to Punjab the federal government would send a team to prepare a report on their upkeep.

The meting which was headed by Begum Atiya Anayatullah was attended by federal culture secretary Saleem Sheikh Gul, Federal Archeology DG Fazal Dad Kakar, Pakistan National Council of Arts DG Naeem Tahir and Punjab culture secretary Taimur Azmat Osman.

Federal joint secretary on culture Jalaluddin Suhail told the meeting that Mr Maqbool would no more be the part of the Punjab government from the next week and would soon leave for Tehran to join the ECO as its executive director.

Sources said that the standing committee insisted that Maqbool should stay with the Punjab government which should prepare a plan spanning over two years for the conservation of 147 monuments.

Talking to Dawn, Maqbool said that the federal inspection team was welcome to visit and see the condition of transferred monuments in six months instead of a year.