KARACHI, June 20: The Sindh government has ordered that the work being carried out in St Joseph’s Convent High School, protected under the Sindh Cultural Heritage Protection Act, be stopped immediately, it is learnt.

According to sources, nobody, including the owners, can carry out any kind of work, including restoration, renovation, repairs or construction, in any structure that is protected under the act without prior permission from the Advisory Committee on Cultural Affairs headed by the provincial chief secretary.

Violators could be sentenced to long prison terms and awarded heavy fines under the act.

The Sindh Culture Secretary, Ashiq Hussain Memon, who would issue the permission granted by the Advisory Committee, responding to Dawn queries, said that no permission had been granted to carry out any work in St Joseph’s Convent High School.

The sources said that the Sindh Culture Department, in a communication (OSD/CHC/CTS & YAD/3-90/98/1104) to Najma Swalleh, the Executive Officer of the Karachi Cantonment Board — which looks after civic matters including constructions, etc, in the area where St Joseph’s Convent High School is located — has asked her to get the work stopped immediately.

The communication says that no work could be carried out unless proper approval is granted by the provincial culture department as well as the advisory committee for Sindh Cultural Heritage.

The communication says that as per procedure, any plan for restoration, renovation, repair and construction work at a protected heritage site has to be forwarded to the culture department for approval.

It says that the St Joseph’s Convent High School was declared protected under the act vide serial number 218, on Sept 15, 1997.

The culture department has also directed Farhatullah Qureshi, chief of the National Heritage Cell that is set up in the Karachi Building Control Authority to monitor the buildings that have been protected under the act, to visit the St Joseph’s Convent High School and examine the work and submit a report to the department.

Responding to the Dawn queries, Najma Swalleh, said that she knew that work was being carried out in the St Joseph’s Convent High School for the past many weeks.

She said that the convent management had not informed the KCB before starting the work, but when the KCB officials came to know about the work and asked the management, the management informed verbally about the work being carried out.

She said that the KCB officials were satisfied and allowed the management verbally to carry out the work. She said that a formal written permission would be given after the management submitted detailed information with the cantonment board regarding the work in writing.

The sources said that over 600 buildings have been declared protected in the city under the Sindh Cultural Heritage Protection Act for the future generations. The necessity for the act was felt as many of the architecturally beautiful buildings were falling victim to the builders’ mafia who, in its greed to get more money, demolished the buildings and constructed highrise buildings on the land.

The sources said that as a majority of these over 600 buildings is located in the downtown business area, the land on which these are constructed has become precious and the owners of many of these buildings want to demolish these structures and construct new highrise buildings on the land to make a quick buck.