Rs2m needed to repair damaged wall

Archaeology dept prepares for restoration of two boundary walls of 680-year-old mausoleum of Hazrat Shah Rukn-i-Alam.

MULTAN:

The Archaeology Department has prepared a Rs2 million estimate for repair and restoration of the two boundary walls of the 680-year-old mausoleum of Hazrat Shah Rukn-i-Alam, an Archaeology Department official said on Wednesday.

He said water had badly damaged two walls on its north-east corner. The eastern wall, he said, had subsided with cracks and the northern wall had been found to be tilting towards north.

He said the pre-Mughal era mausoleum had been declared one of the best preserved monuments in the country following conservation work at a cost of Rs 2.9 million in 1977.

He said an ablutions point was built in 2010. The other side of the wall was built in 2012. He said both were closed after the Archaeology Department noticed cracks on the eastern wall running southwards from the north-east corner.

He said within three months, the cracks in the wall widened further enough for anybody to peep through and its corner had subsided by 2.5 inches resulting in a concave top. He said the 38-feet long portion of the 2.5-feet thick wall would have to be rebuilt from its foundations which might be 30-feet deep.

He said the wall running westward from north-east corner was tilted by three inches. The wall is located on the edge of a steep slope. Officials believe that its five bastions saved it from a collapse.

The tilt had caused a long crack in the floor of the mosque inside the mausoleum, the official said. Heavy rains caused more seepage and might also damage the 100-feet portion of the eastern wall that was recently conserved at a cost of Rs2.7 million.

He said experts had suggested that a four-inch thick RCC raft be laid on the 2,000 square feet damaged floor that would penetrate into the northern wall to prevent further tilting. He said the Archaeology Department had brought the situation under the Auqaf Department’s notice and prepared estimates that would be sent to the Auqaf Department for funding.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2014.