Secretary to Culture Department, Government of Sindh, Abdul Aziz Uqaili has said that an amount of Rs 100 million has been got sanctioned for Moen-jo-Daro and his department is going to execute only devolved scheme namely Master Plan for Rehabilitation and Culture Tourism (MPRCT) and also has decided to regularise services of 24 employees of National Fund for Moen-jo-Daro.
He said that since the archaeological site of Moin-jo-Daro was devolved to Sindh Government in April, 2011, the Sindh government immediately notified setting up of Executive Board under the Chairmanship of Sindh Minister for Culture and Technical Consultative Committee (TCC) headed by Professor Dr Nilofer Shaikh, Vice Chancellor Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur.
He said that those two forums soon after notification took important decisions, and approved scheme for monsoon 2011 and execute it according to provide further protection to the site. He said the Executive Board also considered it imperative that with a view to accelerate the pace of activity, concerted efforts for conservation, rehabilitation, maintenance etc, on sound footings by applying technically viable methods, were required and a conference of all stakeholders on Moen-jo-Daro, thus, be convened.
The conference was held on October 15, 2011 and attended by the intellectuals, professionals, conservationists archaeological experts, academicians, students, elected representatives from all over the country which paved way for stabilising the site, meeting challenges from weather, river action sub-soil water, etc preferably by resorting to local methods of mud slurry and mud capping, as a regular maintenance strategy. He said it was an established norm recognised all over the world that collective decisions were taken, for which the only recourse was to hold meetings/conferences by bevy of experts rather than decision of the individual or department.
In keeping with this canon, the meetings of the Executive Board/TCC are held to deliberate solely upon the conservation and allied issues of the archaeological site, which includes its regular maintenance, measures to pre-empt and combat monsoon damages, whether vagaries, improve management structure, promote tourism, protect site from encroachments, build capacity of local workers/officials, etc.
The Culture Department has so far held two meetings of the Executive Board of National Fund for Moen-jo-Daro in July 2011 and February 2012. The decisions in the recent meetings of the Executive Board at Moen-jo-Daro also revolve round the above issues.
The Culture Department's unremitting efforts for all the above segments relating to the archaeological remains need applause, specially when besides the above conservation and maintenance issues, it has got sanctioned funds of Rs 100 million for Moen-jo-Daro, is going to execute only devolved scheme, namely Master Plan for Rehabilitation and Cultural Tourism (MPRCT) and also regularising the services of 24 employees of National Fund for Moen-jo-Daro.
He said that in addition to that the Culture Department was actively attending the repairs to the rest house at Moen-jo-Daro, vehicle of Sir John Marshall, reprinting of the old/out of print books of Sir John Marshall, setting-up of a committee under Commissioner Larkana for tree-plantation at the site, reopening of the theft case of seals, preparedness for ensuing monsoon season, strengthening of Technical Consultative Committee, exploring possibilities of fund-raising, encouraging students' visits to the archaeological site of Moen-jo-Daro, constructions of public toilets, creation of security set-up of the site, preparation of Master Plan of the archaeological site, which shall cover all segments relating to the conservation, rehabilitation, maintenance, promotion of tourism, facilities for the tourists/visitors, site management strategy, etc.