LARKANA, April 29: The international workshop on conservation of Moenjodaro ended at Moenjodaro on Sunday with a set of recommendations, including transfer of management of the historical site to the department of archaeology and museums.
The participating experts treated the recommendations of the international consultative committee of 1997 as the basic reference in the workshop and added that the impact of naturally hostile environment at the site needed management at highest level.
They supported the establishment of an archaeological park at Moenjodaro and recommended that talks should be held with the Pakistan Tourism and Development Corporation for development of facilities for tourists and visitors at the site.
The experts after long deliberations arrived at the conclusion that the site director should periodically seek advice from international experts on different aspects of management.
The experts called for resuming immediately short-term and medium-term conservation works to effectively address the wrath of different seasons, particularly rain. The workshop called for urgent reactivation of automatic weather station.
Regarding the programme of protection from river, the experts called for continuing efforts to strengthen mud embankment surrounding the site in consultation with irrigation and archaeology departments and repairing the drains, coupled with studying the trends of River Indus and Dadu Canal.
They proposed that planting and landscaping should be undertaken with vegetation of salt-tolerant species that would serve as windbreakers to mitigate the effects of airborne salt and storm.