HYDERABAD: Owner of a protected heritage building, standing tall in Hirabad since 1940, was issued another show-cause notice, asking him to explain reasons for defacing the heritage property and appearbefore a deputy director of Sindh culture department.

The building on Jail Road was known as old A-1 hotel and the notice was issued on March 24 to Mukhtar Alam, said to be owner of Karamchand (Viroomal Mehboobani 1940) building.

The edifice is listed on the department`s list of heritage buildings at serial number 104. The notice signed by assistant director (heritage) of culture department was one of the many issued since 2023 to the owner for violating provisions of heritage preservation law.

The owner was required to cease all work within the premises of the heritage building failing which the department would take legal action like `seal-ing of building, registration of FIR or recovery of damage` due to unauthorised action taken by him, according to the notice.

The owner was reminded by the culture official that a letter was issued to him on June 21, 2024, to carry out renovation/repair and maintenance work only inside the premises with utmost precaution to ensure no damage occurred to interior or exterior wall of the heritage building.

The department has noted that the owner failed to comply with these directives and defaced the beauty offaçade of the heritage building by fitting shutters to the newly constructed commercial shops.

He was hence asked to appear before deputy director (heritage) on March 27, 2025, through the March 24 notice.

Earlier, the owner was notice issued on March 9 and asked to stop construction work and appear in person to explain his position.

The owner then submitted an applica-tion to seek permission for carrying out renovation and repair work in the building and he was asked to appear before the culture department`s deputy director (heritage & administration) on April 29, 2024.

This beautiful ground plus one floor building has `Akhtar Mahal` engraved on one side of the main door. Akhtar Jamil Khan was believed to be one of the subsequent owners of the building. It was not known who currently owned the property.

Seven shutters were created in the building`s façade and according to deputy director (heritage), Pirah Mangi, this was the work which was taken notice of by department in 2023 and 2024.

`But now the surveyor has reported that more defacement has been done in the building. So, we need to hear the owner as to what he has done. He will have to explain his position,` she said.

A visit to the site revealed that a wholesale watermelon trader was using ground floor premises of the building.The trader wasn`t able to confirm who actually owned the property but some residents of the locality said that two sisters jointly owned this.

Local residents told Dawn that windows were located in the building before these shutters were created after demolishing the windows. Inside the building some new construction work was done.

Ms Mangi said that if the owner had indeed done defacement as reflected in the surveyor`s report then the department would act accordingly. She, however, did not explain what kind of violation or defacement had been reported by the surveyor.

She claimed that the owner was demolishing the building and when the notice was previously issued to him informing him that it was a protected heritage property the owner then sought permission for carrying out necessary repair work.

Meanwhile, the owner could not appear before the deputy director, Ms Mangi, on March 27 as directed since she hadproceeded onleave.