NWFP bans demolition of all historical buildings

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Friday, May 01, 2009
ThNews

The NWFP government has banned demolition of all historical buildings in the province and decided to rehabilitate and preserve them as heritage.

A high-level meeting held here Thursday with Provincial Minister for Sports, Culture and Tourism Syed Aqil Shah in the chair decided to clamp a ban on demolition of all old and historic landscapes in the province and permanently restore and preserve them.

Attended by senior level officers from environment, culture, forest, archaeology, works and services and administration departments and commissioner of Hazara Division, the meeting discussed the steps for rehabilitating and restoring the national heritage buildings and make them attractive for tourists.

It was also decided to constitute a team for collecting information about such sites, buildings and landscapes and submit findings for the purpose. The meeting was called to deliberate upon the issue of demolition of historical buildings, especially the auction of Dagri Forest Rest House, the provincial minister Syed Aqil Shah said.

The minister said after reading the story about auction of the bungalow in The News, he contacted the Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti and requested him to stop demolition of the building. The chief minister took a serious notice of the issue and instructed all the departments concerned to stop demolition of the bungalow and preserve it as heritage, he added.

“We have issued directives to the departments concerned that in future no historical building, site or landscape could be demolished or its originality disturbed,” he added.

Aqil Shah said not only Dagri Forest Rest House, but other old buildings would be preserved and publicized for promotion of tourism. The province is culturally rich and has a number of historical landscapes even older than British era that need to be protected and preserved, he said, adding the government was taking a keen interest in safeguarding the cultural and historical heritage.

The government is introducing a package ‘See Peshawar’ (the oldest living city) to attract tourists that would be a joint project of the tourism and archaeology departments, he added. Other packages include restoration of Gore Khuttri and Mohallah Sethian and opening them for tourists as historical sites.

Aqil Shah said he had visited this British-ear Dagri Forest Rest House built in 1860 and the news about its auction disturbed him that’s why he asked the chief minister to stop its demolition and that was done accordingly. He said all the SHOs and police stations in Hazara Division would be directed to have a check on all historical buildings and take quick action if some one tried to damage or demolish them.