KARACHI, Sept 13: The Sindh government has enlarged a committee set up to resurvey the buildings located in cantonment board area and declared protected under the Sindh Cultural Heritage Protection Act, it is learnt.

Earlier the committee comprised Sindh culture department secretary Ashiq Hussain Memon (chairman), National Heritage Cell (NHC) chief Farhatullah Qureshi, NHC member Samat Ali Khan; and section officer (Heritage) Badar Qureshi.

Two new members added to the committee after nearly six months belong to the ministry of defence. They are Lieutenant Colonel Chaudhry Faiz Rasool and the military estates officer (MEO) Karachi.

The sources say that under the Sindh Cultural Heritage Protection Act, the Sindh government can declare any structure or building as protected, publish that in the newspapers for public information and ask for objections, if any.

Once a building is declared protected, nobody can demolish or carry out any construction or repair activity in the building without getting prior permission from the advisory committee headed by the Sindh chief secretary.

Anybody, including the owner and the occupant , may file objections within 30 days of such a publication regarding the protected structure/ building with the Sindh Culture Department which, after following the prescribed rules, gets that site resurveyed.

The report of the re-survey is submitted to the Sindh Culture Department which presents it to the advisory committee. The committee decides whether the building should be kept on the protected list or not.

The sources say that the main point is that the objection is to be filed with the culture department within 30 days after a building is declared protected. But in the present case the department has decided to resurvey the sites after almost half a decade and that also only those sites are to be resurveyed that are located in the cantonment board limits.

They say that a large number of old and architecturally beautiful buildings protected under the heritage act, many of these owned by the law enforcement agency, are located in the cantonment board area.

The sources say that some time back the law enforcement agency demolished one of its buildings protected under the Act, at Lucky Star (Saddar) in the Cantonment Board area. The demolition continued for many days despite objections raised by the Sindh culture department and conservationists.

The notification issued for the inclusion of these new members says: “In continuation of this department’s notification of even number dated March 6, 2002, the government of Sindh is pleased to include Lieutenant Colonel Ch. Faiz Rasool AQ. Station Headquarters Karachi, and the MEO Karachi as members of the committee constituted for conducting resurvey of the protected heritage buildings lying in the cantonment area as such declared on Sept 15, 1997, for selection of appropriate buildings which are genuinely deserved for heritage.”