MULTAN, Dec 18: Rahim Yar Khan District Coordination Officer Dr Raheel Ahmed Siddiqi on Thursday halted construction work on a water treatment plant near Pattan Munara, a Buddhist era remain in Cholistan.

He said that maximum steps would be taken to conserve the site as a great historical asset of the country.

Presiding over a meeting on Pattan Munara, which was also attended by Director-General, Archeology (Punjab) Shahbaz Ali Khan, Chairman of the Archeology Department, Punjab University, Professor

Dr Farzand Ali, and representatives of various NGOs working on Pattan Munara, the

DCO asked the Archeology Department to issue a notification to save the adjoining land (of Pattan Munara) so that a fence could be erected around the protected area.

He directed the Public Health Engineering XEN to stop the construction of the water treatment plant near the historical site. The XEN informed the meeting that his department would provide Rs1.2 million for the conservation of the site.

Later, the DCO visited the sewerage water treatment plant near Pattan and directed revenue officials to check the land record of the historical place, remove encroachments within 200 meters radius (from the site).

He also directed the district officer roads to measure the pathway from the city so that a road leading to the site could be built.