Endowment Fund Trust Secretary holds meeting with Commissioner Hyderabad and other officials for removal of encroachments and getting vacated historic guest house building occupied by Police and Irrigation Departments.
The encroachments have not been removed since long despite Chief Minister’s orders and are hindering the rehabilitation work of historic fort.
From Our Correspondent
Hyderabad
The Endowment Fund Trust (EFT) has offered sponsoring the scholars desirous of conducting studies for their doctoral degree on ancient Sehwan fort and the historic Sehwan town in Jamshoro district of Sindh.
Abdul Hameed Akhund, Secretary, EFT, made this offer during a meeting held here Wednesday with the Divisional administration of Hyderabad with regard to removal of encroachments in and around the Sehwan Fort and getting vacated the inside buildings occupied by the police and irrigation departments.
He informed the meeting that EFT has planned to hold an international seminar on Sehwan and Hyderabad soon after Eidul Fitr.
The EFT has been entrusted the task of rehabilitation of ancient fort. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had laid the foundation of rehabilitation project earlier in January this year and also had announced that the Sehwan Town would be declared as the ‘Protected Heritage Town’ and legislation process would be initiated for the purpose. He had agreed to a proposal of establishing Museum at the fort, for which the occupied buildings were to be vacated. He also had endorsed the idea of setting up of Trans Indus Research Institute for Cultural Studies.
Also Read: Sehwan to be declared as Protected Heritage Town
The EFT officials had been holding meetings with Divisional Administration for removal of encroachments in and around the fort since last year but no progress could be achieved yet despite Chief Minister’s directives in January this year.
Commissioner Hyderabad Division Nadeem-u-Rehman Memon, who presided over the today’s meeting, directed the officers of police and irrigation departments to immediately vacate the buildings, and further ordered the Jamshoro district administration for removal of all other encroachments, being the great hindrance in rehabilitation work. Commissioner said that according to Heritage Act, any kind of construction within 200ft area of cultural and national heritage is strictly prohibited.
EFT Secretary informed that except the main gate of the fort, entire area has been occupied by the encroachers, which need to be removed immediately so that the rehabilitation work could be carried out smoothly. The EFT would solely bear all the expenditures of rehabilitation of the fort.
Also Read: EFT to undertake rehabilitation work of historic Sehwan Fort
He added that EFT would establish museum at the historic guest house building of the fort after getting it vacated. “None of the museums in Sindh is of world standard and we plan to setup a museum of such a standard at Sehwan Fort,” he told.
Further, the rehabilitation would require 5000 bricks which the Shaheed Allah Bukhsh University of Art & Design Jamshoro has promised to provide. It has also assured of providing space to establish a research laboratory, it is direly needed to conduct research on various artifacts found from different archaeological and historical sites of Sindh, Hameed Akhund told.
Briefing on history of the Sehwan Fort, Hameed Akhund said that as per historical evidences, it was built in 400 BC and was used by all the successive rulers of Sindh. When the Kalhora rulers gained their power in Sindh, the Mughal rulers used the Sehwan Fort as headquarter in 1701 AD, however later, the Kalhora rulers setup their headquarters at Khudabad and again shifted to Hyderabad. “Since then, this fort has remained neglected,” he said.
Hameed Akhund said that EFT plans to work on ancient history of Sindh and compiling of the old and modern history on scientific basis, for which it has been proposed to constitute a committee consisting of experts of Sindhi Language Authority, Sindh Culture Department and such other concerned departments.
The meeting also discussed the issues hindering the declaration of Sehwan as protected cultural heritage town. Commissioner Nadeem Memon asked the police officers and other officials present in the meeting to ensure compliance of Chief Minister’s orders in this regard.
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