BAHAWALPUR: The local Pakistan Post officials, in collaboration with the management of the Sadiq Reading Hall (the state library), have restored more than 80-year old letter box at the main entrance of the library to project its historical significance.

Chief Librarian Rana Javed Iqbal told Dawn that after tracing one of the oldest letter boxes dating back to 1938, the post office Superintendent Ghufran Amjad consulted him for selecting a suitable place for its installation and make it functional.

He said the initiative was aimed at highlighting the significance of the rare and old letter box and also making it operational to encourage those who still believed in writing (hard copy) letters in this age of information technology.

Mr Iqbal said with mutual consultation they selected the state library’s main entrance on the Library Road, adjacent to the Bahawalpur Museum for installation of the letter box. A special platform was also built on the selected spot to install it, he added.

He said it was considered the best place for the purpose, because those visiting the museum, including students and researchers, would also be able to have a look at the colonial-era letter box.

Some other antiques, including a steam engine used in 1932 for the construction of the Panjnad Head works and precious car and a gun of the late Nawab Sadiq Abbasi are already on display on the premises of the Bahawalpur Museum.

About tracing the antique letter box, Mr Ghufran Amjad said he found it in the store room of the post office where various articles retrieved from the closed down post offices of rural areas had been kept.

He said that before installing it at the state library’s main entrance, the antique letter box was repaired and polished.

He said the letter box had also been made functional to provide postal services to the people in the area.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2019