LAHORE, Jan 27: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi said on Friday by establishing the Punjab Institute of Language, Art and Culture, the government had addressed the lingering concern among the intelligentsia about the lack of promotion of Punjabi language and culture.

He was speaking at the stone-laying ceremony of the institute building near Qadhafi Stadium.

The chief minister said the Punjabi language had a treasure of poetry and prose and it was the duty of all to transfer it to the coming generations. The people of Punjab ignored their language for long and the present generation could not even read or speak it.

He said Urdu was Pakistan’s national language, but it did not mean that people should forget their regional languages. Commendable efforts had been made to protect and promote regional languages and culture in other provinces and time had come to pay attention to the promotion of Punjabi language and literature. The institute had been created for the same purpose, he added.

The chief minister said Sindh had 17 institutions for the promotion of the Sindhi language and the NWFP and Balochistan three each for the advancement of their respective regional languages. The first institute in Sindh was established in 1954 and in the NWFP and Balochistan in 1953. “By talking so much of federation, Punjab has forgotten its identity,” he said.

He said intellectuals, writers and poets from all over the province were consulted for the creation of the institute and it was established under an act by the Punjab assembly, ensuring that no future government could do away with it.

He said all dialects of Punjabi would be promoted by the institute with the cooperation of intellectuals from the central Punjab and the Pothohari and Seraiki belts.

Pervaiz Elahi doubled the annual grant for cultural and literary organizations in Punjab from Rs5 million to Rs10 million. He also announced an annual Rs2.5 million grant for the needy writers and poets in the province, and an annual Rs50,000 for the best book on Punjab.

Replying to a question on the low-quality Punjabi stage plays, he said it would be regulated through an act of the assembly. The present stage drama did not represent real culture of Punjab. Such poor quality plays were harmful for society and art, blocking the way of real writers and performers.

Information Secretary Taimur Azmat Osman dilated upon the aims and objectives of the institute and said the government had for the first time in the history of the province taken the task of patronizing the Punjabi language, literature and culture. The institute would serve as an important place for the research on Punjab, he said.

Architect Nayyar Ali Dada said the building would be completed in one year and it would have a museum, a library and a 250-seat auditorium. Its design would match the structures in its surroundings.