HYDERABAD, Nov 4: District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil said on Saturday that the district government was spending Rs20 million on maintaining and preserving the beauty and splendour of the historical city.

Presiding over a meeting held at his secretariat to review arrangements for holding the Hyderabad Festival, he said that the festival would provide recreation to people and would also help educate them in the rich history of this historical city, and create among them consciousness for the protection and preservation of historical and cultural monuments.

All the historical and cultural buildings would be opened for public during the festival after carrying out necessary repairs and renovation, he said, adding that although provincial department for culture was originally responsible for the preservation of historical and cultural heritage but the district had taken it upon itself to maintain restore the city’s past grandeur.

He said that Rs5.6 million would be spent on the repair and renovation of the famous Mukhi House, Holms Stead Hall and Pakka Qilla and in the first phase, 30 out of 88 buildings which had been declared as national heritage, had been selected. If need arose the district would seek financial help from the provincial and federal governments also, he said.

He urged the festival organising committee to acquire services of expert craftsmen and artisans for the repairs and renovation work to ensure that the original beauty of the historical monuments was preserved.

Mr Jamil directed that boards detailing history of the monuments in Sindhi, Urdu and English languages should also be put up near the historical sites.

Hyderabad DCO Aftab Ahmed Khatri, EDO community development, Shafaat Hussain Unnar, director of Building Control Department, Nadeem Rizwan and the members of the festival committee attended the meeting.

HCCI: The Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Sunday criticised the PTCL for its poor service and demanded that the company’s head should take steps to improve efficiency.

A meeting of the HCCI executive committee severely criticised the company and said that the closure of a large number of telephones in the industrial area had adversely affected the production process and exports.

The meeting complained that with the dialling of telephone number voice-mail service was activated and the customer had to shoulder both the expenses of call as well as voice-mail.