Daily Times

KARACHI: The multi-million rupees scheme of the Sindh’s Culture Department which has to aim at preserving manuscripts of Ganj Risalo by Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai has become the center of the corrupt practices , as Rs 40 million were shown utilized in the budget without spending on the project, Daily Times has learnt.

The culture department had launched an ADP scheme costing Rs 40 million for preserving manuscripts of poetry of Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, making its audio and video recording and bringing a new print of the Ganj Risalo. According to sources, the culture department has shown that these funds have been properly utilized on the said scheme, however the fact is that neither the manuscripts have been preserved nor any audio or video is developed. The first preservation of the manuscripts of Ganj Risalo was done in 1994 by Mumtaz Mirza, a well known writer, poet and intellectual, with the help of Bhit Shah Cultural Committee, of the Culture Department, Government of Sindh. For the latest preservation project, initiated last year, the culture department also invited services of various editors, writers, intellectuals, authors, translators, compilers and proof readers etc under various ADP schemes.

The schemes included printing of Gunj Sharif, recording of Shah Jo Risalo, documentation of Sugharran Ji Katchehri and printing of books and translation of books of Faiz Ahmed Faiz in Sindhi languages. The project encompasses preservation of 524 pages of the Gunj Sharif, about 439 pages of Katchehri Ja Moor, 196 pages of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s Ghann Pasain Shiksiyat, 1070 pages of Zikr-e-Faiz, around 448 pages of a book Over My Shoulder and 172 pages of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry, sources said.