Outcry on Painting Heritage Buildings at Burns Road

The Sindh government has set up a committee for the restoration of heritage buildings on Karachi’s Burns Road that were recently painted in different colors as part of the initiative to renovate the famous food street.

The provincial government wants the old facade of the buildings to be restored and Sindh Culture Minister Syed Sardar Shah took notice of coloration following public outcry on social media.

Deputy Commissioner South Irshad Ali Sodhar has denied his office’s role in painting heritage buildings along Burns Road in Karachi.

He asserted that the paintwork was carried out by members of the civil society. “We stopped the work after the notice was taken,” Sodhar added.

To look into the matter further, the Director-General (DG) of Sindh Antiquities department has been appointed as the committee head which will submit a report on the matter.

Heritage enthusiast and civil society activist Marvi Mazhar thanked Syed Sardar Shah for taking notice of the matter and expressed her disappointment regarding the recent paintwork of the heritage buildings on Twitter.

Thank you @sardarshah1 for taking notice and making right intervention. Hoping this would lead into appropriate precedence for future heritage politics of Karachi. We bring to your notice, to develop stronger politics to protect from real estate @Ministerculture @BBhuttoZardari pic.twitter.com/aItXggOLsR

— Marvi Mazhar (@marvimazhar) January 11, 2021

Furthermore, Syed Sardar Shah added, “The buildings will be repainted in their original color”.

He remarked that some buildings are old, while others are heritage buildings.

The cultural department said the district administration was stopped from conducting an unapproved renovation, adding that it was a violation of the Sindh Heritage (Preservation) Act 1994.

“The original color and shape of cultural heritage cannot be changed,” said the department.

In December last year, the Sindh government formed a 10-member committee for the renovation of Karachi’s Burns Road food street. The assistant commissioner of the Arambagh Sub-Division is the convener of the committee.

Recently, the Karachi administration decided to pedestrianize the food street.

A notification issued on January 5 said that the vehicles won’t be allowed on the street after 7 pm as a part of the government’s initiative to pedestrianize it.

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Last year in Mumbai, the uplifting of famous heritage buildings was carried out.

More than a century-old Ismail Building in Mumbai’s Flora Fountain area caught the headlines when the place was restored by conservation architect Kirtida Unwalla.

Perhaps, it is wishful thinking but we hope that similar restoration work could be carried out by our local authorities here in Pakistan.