Lack of funds: Lyallpur Museum’s expansion in limbo

The Punjab Information and Culture Department has not yet approved the rules of business of the Lyallpur Museum, passed by its board of governors in 2014.

Work to establish the museum was started in 2010 and completed in 2013.The history and culture of different areas of Sandal Bar region are preserved in it. The historically important Sandal Bar covers the area between the Ravi and Chenab rivers. Lyallpur Museum consists of 10 galleries.

The orientation, Sandal Bar, regional archaeological heritage, Mughal to British heritage, Chenab Colony, Lyallpur, thought and act, social beauty,textile and Pakistan Movement galleries depict different phases of history from the stone age to modern era. The historical journey is displayed with the help of maps. In addition to flora and fauna, local culture has been depicted through a model of a village, while tribal games and mysticism have been displayed aesthetically.

A proposal was also sent to the higher authorities to shift the museum to a larger place to avoid congestion, but the plan was ignored.

Archaeologist Abdul Waheed told The Express Tribune that due to non-passage of the Lyallpur Museum Regulations 2014, pending with the information and culture department, the museum administration could not establish a muti-discipline laboratory for research on historical artefacts and comparison of different phases of history. The 16 employees of the museum are still working on a daily wage basis and most of them have passed the age limit for applying for jobs in other departments during the past seven years.

The board of governors had approved introduction of entry tickets for general public visiting the museum but the provincial government rejected the proposal for generating revenue for running the organisation.

The archaeologist said a lot of artefacts, antiquities, stone age utensils, khaddi cloth machine, mud utensils of different varieties, tools of blacksmiths and carpenters, musical instruments and ploughs were lying idle and rusting because museum was short of space to preserve them.

Director Lyallpur MuseumTariq Javed said the information department was approached six years ago for the approval of the museum's regulations to seek self-sufficiency in financial matters and initiating important plans to establish a state of the art laboratory, but to no avail. The daily wage employees are feeling insecure owing to non-regularisation of their services.

"We had also proposed to the government of Punjab to shift the museum from the existing building to a bigger space so that a multi-purpose hall or auditorium may be set up to organise seminars and historical exhibitions for disseminating awareness among the people about different phases of history. We also have no official vehicle." He said the management would try its best to get approval of the regulations from the government at the earliest.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2020.