504 buildings in Sindh declared heritage

A total of 504 historical buildings in Sindh have been given the status of heritage sites. Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah on Monday presided over a meeting to declare various buildings in the province heritage sites.

The meeting was attended by the culture secretary, the antiquities director general, the culture director general and members of the advisory committee. The culture secretary informed the meeting that on January 8, 2019, the advisory committee had directed a sub-committee and a technical committee to carry out a survey of various sites and buildings and present recommendations to declare some of them heritage.

The committees had submitted recommendations before the advisory committee in which they suggested that 603 buildings in Sindh be declared heritage. However, the meeting on Monday granted the status of heritage to 504 buildings.

The new heritage buildings were chosen from various districts of the province. Of them, 248 are in Shikarpur district, nine in Khairpur, 15 in Sanghar, 11 in Badin, 37 in Karachi’s District Malir, 37 Karachi’s District West, 50 in Kamber-Shahdadkot and 16 in Thatta.

The advisory committee also approved the status of Parsi Colony as a ‘historical residential colony’. The meeting also granted permissions to start restoration work on various heritage buildings, including the Khaliq Dina Hall in Karachi that was constructed in 1905 and is currently being used by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation. The chief secretary said the conservation of heritage buildings was a noble task, and the authorities would carry out the job with devotion. He asked the culture secretary to help the technical committee and the sub-committee carry out examination of other buildings that could be declared heritage.

Shah also directed the technical committee to visit the Sir Cowasjee Jahangir Institute in Hyderabad so that it could also be granted the status of heritage, which it long deserved.