Lahore Museum being turned around: CS

LAHORE: The Punjab Chief Secretary, Hafeez Akhtar Randhawa, has announced that the government is taking a string of measures that may include foreign donations “to turn the Lahore Museum into one of the finest museums of the world”.

The chief secretary told Daily Times on Monday that the museum is full of rich heritage and priceless antiquities. “At present around eight to nine antiquities from the Lahore Museum are on display in an exhibition in Japan, and those are the focus of the exhibition,” he added.

About foreign donations, he said Japan, China, France, Germany and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) agreed to donate funds, adding that the museum “has such wonderful antiquities and much more is still not on display because of the shortage of space”.

When asked about security arrangements, he said that he had ordered the museum management to ensure entry through one gate only. He said the management was told to publish broachers for visitors and arrange transport for school-going children from other cities of Punjab. He said to broaden the museum space the government was considering getting the place behind the Tollington Market, adding that an under-path would be constructed between the museum and the additional place where antiquities being kept in godowns would be put on display.

The under-path would also have restaurants and a shopping mall. About theft incidents, he said he had ordered the SP Investigations to put a tight control on thieving. —Shoaib Ahmed

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