BAHAWALPUR: Commissioner Musarrat Jabeen says that Rs160m out of allocation of Rs260m have so far been spent on the restoration and preservation of Derawar Fort.

After inspection of the ongoing work at the fort on Thursday, she told Dawn that during previous years, the Punjab government had approved the Derawar Fort`s preservation scheme in two parts, amounting to Rs140m in 2017/18 and conservation of civil building i.e. the former secretariat building of the late Nawab Bahawalpur Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi with Rs120m in the year 2022/23. `Presently, the work is going on these two projects inside the fort with released funds of Rs160m.

Ms Jabeen added that according to the briefing given to her by SDO Sajjad Ahmed of the Archaeology Department, with the released funds of Rs160m, the work was in progress on the fort`s eastern side bastions, fortification wall, platform, Baradari, mainentrance and old mosque while the second part included the `civil building` meant for the old secretariat building of the late Nawab in the fort.

She directed the archeology department`s officials to avoid any unnecessary delay in completion of the fort project with available funds in accordance with the timeline of the department.

The commissioner said the project was not only important for preservation of cultural heritage of this historic region and Bahawalpur but would also prove beneficial for promotion of tourism and strengthening of the economy of historical city of Bahawalpur. She hoped that with the completion of its preservation and restoration of the ongoing work, the fort would attract tourists.

Archeology Department SDO Sajjad Ahmed told Dawn that as the government funds were released in instalments and the restoration work was being carried out accordingly.

He claimed that as soon as the Punjab government released the required funds,they were promptly utilised without any delay. He hoped that the government would also release remaining funds and the ongoing work would be completed in the coming year.

It may be mentioned that Derawar Fort in Cholistan desert is a great masterpiece of architecture. The fort, as per unconfirmed history, was built by the Hindu Rajput Rai Jaja Bhatti of Jaisalmer in the 12th Century.

The present fort was built by the Nawab of Bahawalpur, Sadiq Muhammad Khan-1 in 1733AD which remained under the control of the ruler of Bahawalpur State in various periods until 1966.

The fort was declared protected in 2005 by the Department of Archaeology under the Antiquities Act 1975 and later on it was inscribed on Tentative Word Heritage list of Unesco`s in 2016.

BOMB HOAX: A bomb hoax at a house in the Government Employees Housing Colony, Bahawalpur, created panic in the area.

Dawn learnt that the bomb hoax call, which went viral on the police wireless system, created panic in the area as the police,civil defence and other law-enforcing agencies became active and rushed to the scene.

According to the police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal, when policemen reachedthe house of one Munawwar, they found out that it was not a bomb but just a bottle filled with sand. The spokesman termed it a mischief.