The Historical Tajjer Building

A short history

The strong baked-brick building on 42 feet by 42 feet is located on southeast of the Larkana Town Hall inside the Jinnah Park and tastefully decorated with glazed tiles and floral fresco paintings, traces of which, if looked carefully, could still be seen at some places. Tajjar in Sindhi means arch and as the building has many arches, it is known by that name. Earlier, Nawab Leghari and then British officials used to hold kutchehries (public meetings) there till the beginning of the 20th century when Larkana district was carved out of Karachi and Shikarpur districts. Nawab Leghari died in 1832 and was buried temporarily (as Amanat) in the garden and the Tajjar building was constructed over his grave. Then his remains were relocated to Hyderabad.

The building had gone through ravages of time, �restorations� and various additions and alterations owing to which it was deprived of almost all of its original grandeur. A library was also set up in the building in the late 19th century. Later the building was put to some others uses, including, for some time, serving as a canteen that expedited its deterioration.

The government initiated some restoration work during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto�s rule and later also, but the projects were left incomplete. The building was declared a protected monument in 1980 under the Antiquities Act 1975.

While the Sindh government is still striving to get the required permission, the federal government is refusing to grant it, the funds allocated under the multi-million-rupee project might lapse and the condition of the historical monument deteriorate further.