KARACHI: Sindh Culture Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah informed the Sindh Assembly on Friday that the control of the National Museum was likely to be devolved to the provincial government soon.

While furnishing statement and answers to the lawmakers’ written and verbal queries during Question Hour, he said that the museum was established in Karachi in 1969 by the federal government. He said that after the 18th Amendment, the museum was devolved to the province, but the federal culture ministry took the matter to the Supreme Court.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s parliamentary party leader Khurram Sher Zaman asked the minister if the culture department failed to regain control of the National Museum.

Responding to his question, Minister Sardar Shah said that the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar decided the matter in favour of the federal ministry and it was transferred to the federal government on April 17, 2019.

However, the minister said that the provincial government filed a review petition against the decision and it was still pending disposal in the apex court.

Sardar Shah says current federal govt will not challenge provincial govt’s review petition in SC

He said that now the federal government was not challenging the provincial government’s review petition and it was hoped that its control would be devolved to the Sindh government.

In reply to a written question by parliamentary party leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan Rana Ansar, Sardar Shah said that Kahu Jo Daro was an archaeological site of Buddhist era, initially stretching over 33 acres.

He said that now the area of the site spread over 23 acres as people had encroached upon 10 acres.

He said that the department had executed the work on Kahu Jo Daro by installing barbed wires around the site including the cemented pillars for the protection of site.

The culture minister conceded that the site remained completely ignored after first excavation in 1910 when some artefacts were found which were later kept in different museums.

Govt gives stipend to 1,000 artists

The minister said that the provincial government gave stipends to 1,000 poor artists annually.

He said that over 3,000 artists were also given health cards, which they could use in hospitals across the country.

He said that an artist could avail medical treatment facilities to the tune of Rs300,000.

In reply to a question by PTI’s Adeeba Hassan, he said that three new libraries had been established in the province during 2015-2016.

He informed the house that the Abdul Aziz Public Library was established at Pano Akil in district Sukkur at the cost of Rs33.469 million, Shaheed Mohatarma Benazir Bhutto Public Library at taluka Garhi Khairo at the cost of Rs33m and Model Libray at Orangi Town in Karachi at the cost of Rs25m.

To a supplementary question asked by Ms Hassan, the minister said that there was no registration fee for readers in the libraries. “It is free of cost as we want to promote reading culture,” he added.

To a verbal question by PTI’s Jamal Siddiqui, he said that there were 36 libraries run by the culture department across the province.

He said that the culture department had moved a summary to the local government department for adopting 55 libraries in different union councils.

In reply to another verbal query by PTI’s Dr Seema Zia, the minister said that E-library sections had been set up in as many as 30 libraries. “Besides an E-portal having links of over 100 million books has also been established which can be linked from anywhere,” he added.

The minister replied in the negative when Ms Ansar, asked him if the culture department had established art galleries in the province.

However, he said, the department had established cultural complexes where spaces were allocated for art galleries.

To another question by the MQM-P lawmaker, the minister said that there were 18 functional auditoriums in the province and six of them were air-conditioned.

To an oral query by PTI’s Jamal Siddiqui, the minister said that the department did not allocate any additional funds for the maintenance of the auditoriums, adding that the income incurred through commercial programmes held there was used for the maintenance.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2023