August 12, 2008	Tuesday	Sha'aban 9, 1429

HYDERABAD, Aug 11: The district government and Hyderabad Development Autho-rity (HDA) have recommended to the Culture Department to declare 87 buildings cultural heritage, said DCO Ali Ahmed. It recommended renovation and preservation of the sites or allow the district government to do it.

He said this in a meeting held to discuss preservation of cultural and historical sites and publication of related material, on Monday. The DCO appreciated rich cultural heritage of the city but felt sorry for the neglect it faced, both scientifically and manually.

The main impediment in renovating such sites were encroachments on and alongside such places, he said adding that the district government had decided to discover and preserve historical buildings along with publicising historical facts of the city in the form of a book.

He formed a six-member committee to be headed by Deputy Director, Culture Department, Shahzoor Tabani to coordinate with experts in bringing such sites and facts to the fore.

A proposal to hold annual festival was discussed, along with the will to renovate and preserve monuments built by the British government at the battle of Miani forest and Dubi, said the DCO.

The Archaeology and Culture departments were directed by the DCO to arrange signboards mentioning historical background of each building.

He directed the officers of Building Control Department and Hyderabad Development Authority to refrain from demolishing the recommended buildings. He told the officers concerned to begin renovation of historical buildings, free from encroachment and called upon the builders to encourage introducing wind catchers in building plans.

Mir Hyder Ali Talpur, EDO Revenue Syed Barkat Rizvi, EDO Community Development Shafaatullah Unnar, and officials from Federal Archaeology Department and Provincial Cultural Department attended the meeting.