KARACHI: Wazir Mansion restoration set to suffer further delay
The federal archaeology department, which manages the Wazir Mansion that is also protected under the Antiquities Act, is implementing the six-year (2002-2008) evaluation, strengthening, preservation, rehabilitation, bringing back to its original form, presentation and upgrade project. The project was revised in February 2007.
When the plaster was being chiselled off from one of the galleries, a five- to seven-foot-long portion of the gallery fell down in June 2007. The sources said the department in its attempt to save the relevant officials planned a cover-up, and came up with a story that the galleries were to be demolished anyway so that new galleries, on the design of the original ones, could be built. And to support this theory the two galleries were completely torn down.
The sources said that the façade was one of the most important features of a building as it could be viewed from all sides. And while the PC 1-- the basic document of the project – gave details of various minor jobs to be carried inside the historic building, it did not mention that the galleries were also to be replaced. Even the PC 1 document revised as late as February 2007 carried two pictures of the Wazir Mansion – as it stood at that time and as it was to be made under the project – and both pictures had the same galleries. It proved that the galleries were not to be changed and the demolition had been carried out to protect the few people whose negligence led to the collapse of the portion of the gallery.
The sources said the prime minister also came to know of it through media reports and, because of the importance of the Wazir Mansion, at least twice directed the department to submit a report on the issue immediately. No report, the sources said, had been sent to the prime minister.
The sources said that at least one of the reports was prepared by an Islamabad-based deputy secretary of the department, who was sent here specially for the task from the capital, and his report had reportedly put the responsibility of the balcony collapse/demolition on some senior departmental officials, who, however, blocked the report’s despatch to the prime minister and had the deputy secretary transferred.
In the meantime, the department constituted a committee of experts for designing the galleries. A member of the committee and conservation architect, Yasmeen Lari, talking to Dawn earlier had said that since the galleries were not present when the committee was constituted, there was nothing to preserve. And since the galleries were to be freshly designed, it was a reconstruction project and it was no longer a restoration or conservation project. She had also appealed to the public that if they had any old pictures of the Wazir Mansion, they be provided to the committee so that the galleries could be designed accordingly.
The sources said that the work on the façade of Wazir Mansion had been stopped soon after the gallery collapsed and the rest of the two galleries were completely demolished in June 2007. However, some minor work inside the building was carried out.
Responding to Dawn queries, new project director Dr Mohammad Arif, who is also the Sindh-Balochistan chief of the department, said there was no mention of replacement of the galleries, a major work requiring huge funds, in the PC 1 of the project. So it would not be proper to carry it out under this PC 1.
He said that funds were available in the project but they were for other specific tasks and could not be transferred for the galleries at his level. So for this, the PC 1 needed to be revised at the ministry level to incorporate the required work and expenses. He said that he had also come across some other issues in the PC 1 and they would require a revision.
He also said that since the project engineer, Omar Qureshi, had also been transferred and Waheed Hashmi had taken his place, this might also slow down the implementation as the new team would take time to update itself on the issues. Mr Qureshi had relatively more technical knowledge than his successor, he added.