Lahore:

The Pakistani government has prepared a ‘master plan’ for the renovation and beautifying of temples and gurdwaras in the country at a cost of PKR 1 billion.

The decision was taken on Saturday in a meeting of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) here under its chief Syed Attaur Rehman.

“Under a master plan, temples and gurudwaras will be decorated and development works will be done with a budget of PKR 1bn,” said Rehman.

“A huge amount of money is being spent on minority places of worship,” he added.

Rehman also said the ETPB received more than Rs 1 billion in revenue this year.

The meeting was attended by members of the Hindu and Sikh communities from all over the country, as well as government and non-government members.

Speaking about the ETPB development scheme that needs to be revised, board secretary Farid Iqbal told the members that after changing the scheme to increase the department’s income, the trust properties are now being presented for development.

“The department’s revenue will increase multifold by giving such lands that were not used for a long time for development,” he said.

The meeting also decided to hire a project director for development and renovation works in various temples and gurudwaras and operational work at the Project Management Unit Kartarpur Corridor.

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