Fraction of budget spent on archaeological sites in K-P

K-P govt intended to restore Masjid Mahabat Khan, turn Governor House into a museum

PESHAWAR: As part of its efforts to restore historical structures in the city, the provincial government has decided to allocate a whopping Rs2.9 billion for the maintenance and upkeep of various religious and historical sites in the province, including iconic Masjid Mahabat Khan in Peshawar. However, the department has moved slow, spending just a fraction of the money allotted.

To make matters worse, employees of the project have not been paid for the past three months. A document available with The Express Tribune shows that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Archaeology Department was directed by Prime Minister Imran Khan to transform the Governor House into a museum, while the historical Masjid Mahabat Khan was to be preserved.

The budget document outlines a total outlay of Rs2.9 billion for the fiscal year 2018-19, Rs2 million of which were allocated for maintenance work on heritage sites within the provincial capital, Rs3.5 million for maintaining archeological sites, Rs2 million for upkeep of the Elam mountain Hindu religious site, Rs2.5 million for the Kailash Valley in Chitral, Rs5 million for the Masjid Mahabat Khan, and Rs10 million for the Hazara Museum.

However, the government has been miserly in spending the money with only Rs177.3 million spent over the past nine months. In the Kailash Valley, the archaeology department has thus far only spent Rs0.6 million of the Rs2.5 million allocated. Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th, 2019.