DADU: The entire structure of the centuries-old Badshahi Masjid, Khudabad, is crumbling despite the massive repair work carried out at a cost of Rs40 million since 2009. While the facade has developed wide cracks, hundreds of tiles fixed to all its exterior and interior walls to restore the monument’s beauty and ancient look have fallen off. Ironically, all this is happening during the repair and renovation work.

The mosque was built by Mian Yar Mohammed Kalhoro, the first ruler of the Kalhora dynasty, between 1701 and 1718 in Khudabad town, some 13 kilometres from present-day Dadu town. Prof Aziz Kingrani said Khudabad town served as the capital of this part of Sindh for 50 years of the Kalhoro dynasty.

Historians and archaeologists Maula Bux Shaikh, Prof Aziz Kingrani and Roshan Ali, as well as scores of archaeology buffs frequenting the mosque and other such monument in the province are of the unanimous view that use of substandard material and handling of the restoration work by unskilled labourers and that, too, without the supervision of experts have resulted in the huge loss of money and time.

“The irreparable loss is the damage caused to the monument by negligent officials, corrupt elements involved in the restoration work and the unskilled labour,” said Roshan Ali, the executive director of the Society for Research and Heritage Development, while speaking to Dawn.

He observed that botched work coupled with use of counterfeit tiles instead of the original Hala tiles called ‘Kashi’ and cement instead of ‘cheerily’ [the material exclusively meant for heritage sites restoration] resulted in the collapse of everything fixed during the repair and renovation work since 2009.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2015