LAHORE: The conservation lab of the Lahore Museum has been non-functional for 17 years owing to a shortage of staff and the required equipment, hampering the restoration of several artefacts on display, sources told Dawn.

This was the only such lab in the country and has been widely recognized. The museum houses a large quantity of organic objects such as paintings, manuscripts, textile and other such material that needed restoration and conservation from time to time. But unfortunately, the lab has beennon-functional for 17 years, bringing to halt any conservation ofthe displayed articles.

Sources said all the posts in the lab, including chemist, lab assistants and attendants, were lying vacant since the retirement of senior chemist Waseem Ahmad in 2006.

Moreover, most of the equipment has been out of order and chemicals and preservatives have expired. Resultantly, artefacts such as precious manuscripts, paintings, fabrics and textiles that needed conservation were decaying and could eventually perish.

The sources said the post of the chemist was significant and should be filled with someone who was qualified and experi-enced to undertake museum conservation.

However, none of the vacant posts had been advertised after the retirement of the lab staff. The equipment was also lying unutilised and in a poor condition, and the fumigation chamber was out of order.

When Dawn sought comments from Salima Hashmi, a member of the Lahore Museum Board of Governors, she agreed the conservation lab was in a bad shape.

`In fact, the Lahore Museum never had a conservationlab thatcould be called afully equipped lab,` she added.

Ms Hashmi was of the view that the affairs of Lahore Museum were not being run professionally, and no meeting of theboard of governors had been held for two years. The board should meet at the earliest, formulate policies and assume an autonomous role. The conservation lab, she further said, needed to be revived at the earliest. The chemist and other posts should be advertised and the required equipment acquired, she added.

When contacted, the spokesperson for the Lahore Museum, Asim Rizwan, told Dawn that efforts for the revival of the lab were under way as the vacant posts were being advertised. A list of the required equipment had been provided to the Punjab Tourism for Economic Growth Project, he added.