KARACHI, Oct 31: Sindh governor Dr Ishratul Ibad has asked the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, to complete the ongoing theatre-auditorium project by Nov 30.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf had announced a grant of Rs50 million for the construction of a theatre-auditorium on the premises of the Arts Council two years back. Half of the grant was issued shortly afterwards. The Sindh governor had the remaining grant released recently.

The vice-president of the Arts Council, Khushbakht Shujaat, told Dawn on Thursday that the work on the theatre- auditorium had been going on for the past 12 years. “It is a huge project. The governor has taken a lot of interest in it. He wants the project completed by Nov 30. The deadline is also important because President Musharraf will be invited by the Arts Council to inaugurate the theatre-auditorium project,” she said.

She said that when completed the theatre-auditorium with a seating capacity of 500 would be one of the best in Pakistan. “The building has been properly designed and will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology. Make-up rooms will be made for performers,” she explained.

Talking about the financial health of the Arts Council, Ms Shujaat said the annual grant of the cultural body had recently been upped from Rs10,000 to Rs1 million.

Official sources told Dawn that of all the arts councils in the country, the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, used to receive the lowest grant from its provincial government every year.

They added that while all the arts councils in Pakistan received Rs40,000 as annual grant from the federal government, they all got different grants from their provincial governments. “The Punjab government, for instance, gives Rs10 million to Alhamra which is the arts council in Lahore. The Quetta arts council, the Peshawar arts council and the Mehran arts council receive around Rs100,000 from the provincial governments. But the Karachi Arts Council used to receive only Rs10,000 from the Sindh government. This has now been raised to Rs1 million.”

The sources said the Arts Council had only two sources of income: booking of the premises and membership fees. “In order to make the premises attractive so that more people book them for functions, the arts council must renovate them. But the arts council does not have any money to do that.”

They added that every month the arts council had to pay the salary of some 25 employees which took away a major chunk of the annual grant.

“The reason why the Arts Council does not expand its infrastructure is that it is always beset with financial problems on a monthly basis. It was when the federal government and the provincial government came to the arts council’s rescue that the construction of the theatre on the premises has become possible.”

They recalled that in 1992, the then vice president of the Arts Council, M. M. Osmani, and the then honorary secretary, Qudsia Akbar, had put forward the idea that a theatre be constructed on the premises of the Arts Council where serious plays could be staged.

“According to an estimate, it was calculated that the cost of the project would come to Rs25 million. The Sindh government contributed Rs10 million and the work on the theatre started in 1992. But the work came to a halt when the first instalment of the Sindh government grant had been consumed and further instalments were not forthcoming,” they said.