Two booked in Puqqa Qila’s main gate collapse incident

HYDERABAD, Sep 04 (APP):The Fort police station has lodged an FIR over the incident of collapse of the 18th Puqqa Qila’s man gate and its structure, booking contractors Waliullah Bhutto and Saddam
Bhutto.

According to the FIR, the two contractors have been booked under section 19 (1) of Antiquities Act, 1975, and sections 427 and 34 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The case has been registered on the complaint of Muhammad Waseem
Shaikh, security officer of Sindh Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Department poste at the fort.

He stated that the contractors began work of repair on the walls of the fort around 2 months ago under a contract awarded by Planning, Development, Monitoring and Implementation Cell, Karachi.

He added that when they started work on the walls of the main entrance gate a senior officer of the department Naseem Akhtar Jalbani directed
Saddam Bhutto to repair one side wall first and the other side of wall
later followed by work on the gate.

However, the contractor allegedly started work on both sides of the wall simultaneously in violation of the directives.

Shaikh claimed that he asked Saddam to stop working on both sides of the wall at the same time as directed by Jalbani but he did not listen and the wall caved in around 12 noon on September 2.

Earlier on September 3, the department’s Field Officer Aamir Ahmed Memon wrote a letter to SHO Fort police station requesting to register the FIR.
“You may have been aware that the main gate of the Puqqa Qila has collapsed due to poor strategy of and method of carrying out conservation work thereof causing such loss of cultural heritage,” the letter reads.

“… in spite of repeated instructions of the senior officers to the above named contractor not to dismantle the same, Waliullah Bhutto and Saddam Bhutto did not pay any heed and labourers demolished the structure of the main gate,” it added.

Although the FIR has been registered, the police are yet to arrest the accused.