100-year old Indus Queen facing decay.

MULTAN -- :Indus Queen, an over a century old small ship that was once the only transport for Zaireen to commute between Chachraan Sharif and Kot Mithan Sharif through

mighty river Indus, has been facing decay since long.

The ship was built during the reign of Sir Sadiq Abbasi, the Nawab of Bahawalpur, for the royal family to sail through Sutlej river when it used to be full of water.

The three-storey ship was gifted by the Nawab to renowned Sufi saint of Kot Mithan Hazrat Khawaja Ghulam Fareed in 1917 and remained engaged in transporting Zaireen to and from Chachraan Sharif and Kot Mithan Sharif where the mausoleum of the

saint is located and attracts thousands of devotees every year.

Around five decades ago, the ship caught fire and was parked at the bank of river Indus.

It had the capacity to accommodate around 400 passengers and equipped with the facility to cook food for them.

A project was conceived on the proposal of district government Rajanpur and Tourism Development Corporation Punjab (TDCP) to rehabilitate and decorate the historical ship to

convert it into a floating restaurant and to utilise it to provide a joy-ride...