Senate panel reviews maintenance of Quaid’s mausoleum

Sub-committee observed that Karachi is known for two places that people visit regularly: Sea View and Mazar-e-Quaid

KARACHI: A meeting to review the maintenance and upkeep of the Quaid-e-Azam’s Mausoleum and its surrounding areas was held at the mausoleum on Monday morning.

Nehal Hashmi, Karim Khawaja and Ashok Kumar, members of a senate sub-committee of the Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Department that had paid a visit to the mausoleum from Islamabad, participated in the meeting.



The team was briefed by Quaid-e-Azam Managing Board resident engineer Mohammad Arif and assistant engineer Jawad Mughal, who referred to the financial constraints in managing the economic affairs of the mausoleum. The Quaid-e-Azam Managing Board is part of the National History and Literary Heritage Division, Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage, Islamabad. The meeting called for the upkeep, beautification and maintenance of the 61.253 acres of developed area in the mausoleum. The board proposed to transform the south peripheral area of the mausoleum that is spread over 35.277acres into ‘a Pakistan-map based theme park’. It was also recommended that the 2.967 acres of land in the south-east end of the road be developed into a ‘food street’.

The senate sub-committee observed that Karachi is known for two places that people visit regularly: Sea View and the Mazar-e-Quaid. It suggested that the area surrounding the mausoleum be turned into a place of some attraction for citizens and foreigners so that the area is thronged by people, as is the case with founder of modern-day Turkey Kamal Ataturk’s Mausoleum.

On the matter of security issues, the committee members decided to stop the board from charging a fee from the public to visit the tomb.



Meanwhile, numerous loopholes relating to the mausoleum’s services were bought to the sub-committee team’s notice by the board, including the allocation of only one-third of the proposed budget by the board, vacancies of gardeners and financial constraints in paying hefty utility bills. The board further noted that the Green Line Bus Rapid Transit project, which will run via Gurumandir, must not in any way hamper the beautification of the Mazar’s surrounding areas but should enable people to commute more often towards the mausoleum.

The committee asserted that a public hearing be kept on September 7 and 8 to address and invite all stakeholders.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2016.