Monuments conservation project plagued with flaws

WCLA is executing a Rs100-million plan for renovation of five famous sites

MULTAN:

The Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), which is executing a Rs100 million project for conservation of five famous monuments in Multan and Kot Mithan, has been asked by the Punjab Auqaf authorities to keep experts from Auqaf and Archaeology departments on board after officials noticed some flaws in the conservation work of some monuments.

The Punjab Auqaf Department had approved the Rs100-million project at a DDSC meeting held in September 2021 for conservation of mausoleums of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya Multani, the mausoleum of Hazrat Shah Rukn-e-Alam, the mausoleum of Hazrat Bibi Pak Daman, the mausoleum of Hazrat Shah Shams Tabraiz in Multan and the Darbar of Hazrat Khawaja Ghulam Fareed in Kot Mithan Sharif, officials said.

The project was given to the WCLA. However, from the very beginning, the contractors allegedly started applying sandblasting technique which experts believed could be detrimental to the life of the monuments. The technique uses pressure spray of sand with air on the monuments surface for cleaning, but experts believed it was removing the protective layer developed over the years and exposing porous surface to extreme weather conditions.

At a meeting held last month with officials of Auqaf, Archaeology and WCLA in attendance, the then SDO of Archaeology, Multan, raised some objections over the sandblasting (abrasive blast) cleaning technique applied to the mausoleum of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya “as a totally undesirable and destructive practice” with the potential of seriously curtailing the life expectancy of the building fabric.

Officials had also pointed out that after sandblasting, the contractors opted for flush pointing of the boundary wall despite the fact that there was no evidence of the boundary walls of the mausoleums of Hazrat Shah Rukn-e-Alam and Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya Multani having been ever flush pointed.

The officials also raised objections over use of smaller bricks at the Darbar of Hazrat Khawaja Ghulam Fareed which made the design deviating from the original pattern and some other anomalies. The Auqaf officials said that the WCLA did not provide copies of approved estimates and programme of work to them. The zonal administrator of Auqaf, Multan, had asked the WCLA to provide copy of approved estimates to the Auqaf and Archaeology departments and immediately stop pointing work on the mausoleum of Hazrat Shah Rukn-e-Alam and also provide a drawing of the design of retaining the wall of the mausoleum of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya Multani.

The WCLA officials were further asked to arrange joint visits with the executive engineer of Auqaf and the SDO of archaeology for smooth execution of the conservation works on the monuments.

The XEN of Auqaf was made the focal person and conservation work would be carried out under his supervision. An Auqaf official said that they, along with the WCLA and archaeology officials, assembled at a meeting on June 24, 2022 and chalked out a plan to remove flaws and move forward on vital components of the project for proper conservation of the monuments.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2022.