HYDERABAD, Dec 6: Work for the preservation of Khudaabad Mosque in Dadu district will begin after Eidul Azha as the PC-1 estimated at Rs18 million had already been approved, said Sindh Secretary to Culture and Tourism Department, Shams Jafrani.

He said this while presiding over a meeting of officers and experts held at the Sindh Museum Hyderabad on Friday.

He said that a tender for the execution of scheme would be floated after Eid-ul-Azha and work order to selected company may be issued in the shortest possible time.

He said that the scheme would be completed within a year with restoration of qualitative and original design of the mosque as a technical committee headed by renowned Archaeologist Syed Hakim Ali Shah Bukhari had been constituted to bring it in original shape. The present walls, steeple and monuments of the mosque were in shambles but the same would be raised to its lost glory.

Shams Jafrani said that the department would also recommend to the National Highway Authority for diversion of Indus Highway to a safer distance from the mosque for avoiding future damage to the site.

He said that its preservation was the responsibility of archaeological department, federal government but the scheme was being financed by Culture and Tourism Department, Sindh on the directives of Minister for Culture & Tourism Ms Sassui Palijo.