Followers of these Sufi saints have to come across innumerable problems owing to lack of basic facilities at these shrines.
A survey reveals that a total of 15 shrines are under the command of the Auqaf department in the district. The biggest among them is Haji Sher Muhammad shrine, prominently known as Baba Dewan Chawali Mashaikh. The shrine is located in Burewala tehsil near Sahuka town, where lies the district office of the Auqaf department as well.
Considered to be the first shrine in the subcontinent, it is commonly believed that Dewan Sahib was martyred in 131 AH.
A district press club team which visited the shrine recently, came to know that despite an annual income of around Rs5 million, the shrine offered no facility to its visitors.
Dewan Ghulam Awais, one of the Sajjadah Nashins (caretakers) of Baba Dewan, said the shrine had been under the Auqaf department control since 1960, but it hardly bothered to take steps for the betterment of visitors.
He said no arrangements had ever been made for the langar of followers who flocked to the shrine from all over the country and abroad. He claimed that the department was already getting monthly funds on this account.
He said contractors of toilets and shops were minting money from visitors in connivance with Auqaf officials.
Most of the graves in the ancient cemetery, situated nearby the shrine, had been destroyed in the absence of any sewerage system, he further pointed out.
One Pir Ghulam Mustafa told reporters about the non-availability of the potable water and the pathetic insanitary conditions at the shrine.
Complaining about the deteriorating law and order situation at the shrine, residents of Dewan Sahib have demanded the establishment of a police post there.
They also alleged that Auqaf officials had used substandard material in the construction of 45 new shops around the shrine.
Auqaf district manager Haji Manzoor Ahmed said that he along with his team was trying hard to provide every facility to visitors in limited available resources.
He claimed that only Rs20,000 funds had been provided to the department at the time of annual Urs while he denied getting any funds for the langar.
The shrine, visited by thousands of followers, had a total income of around Rs3.5 million which it drew from cash boxes, contracts and rents.
He said that the total income the Auqaf was getting from 15 shrines in Vehari was about Rs7.6 million annually as against total expenditures of only Rs2.7 million. His own office was also housed in a dilapidated building, he asserted.