‘Declare Lansdowne Bridge, Sukkur Barrage heritage sites’

SHC directs institutes to add information on both in the curriculum

HYDRABAD:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has ordered the Sindh government to declare the 19th century Lansdowne Bridge in Sukkur district and the Sukkur Barrage on the Indus River as the heritage sites.

The Sukkur bench of SHC, comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Abdul Mobeen Lakho, also ordered the government to include the two sites in the school and college curriculum, giving a month for the compliance.

According to details, the order has been given in a petition filed by advocate Sohail Latif Memon and Yaseen Ghunio.

During the hearing, the deputy commissioner Sukkur submitted a report appraising the court that banners, pamphlets and posters of all sorts have been removed from the bridge and the barrage. The chief engineer Sukkur Barrage and Professor from Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai University Qasid Mallah submitted their separate reports about the bridge and the barrage.

The bench also ordered that other important historic sites in Sukkur like Satiyan Jo Astano, Bakhar Fort and Lakhian Jo Daro should also be preserved as national heritage sites. The Sindh culture, tourism and antiquities department has been directed to set up information desks at those sites for the guidance of the visitors.

The bench observed that despite budgetary allocations for the preservation, the sites are said to be decaying. The judges also called for the establishment of laboratories for scientific research on those sites. The government has been asked to promote tourism at all those sites including at the bridges, the court remarked.

The bench also ordered the Sindh school and college education departments to ensure that the information about the barrage and the bridge are added in the curriculum for the academic year 2023-24.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2023.