Kalinjar fortified against squatters and brigands

LUCKNOW: Mahmood Ghaznavi and Sher Shah Suri with their mighty armies may have failed to conqure the impregnable Kalinjar fort in Bundelkhand but in present day it has been infested by encroachers and brigands. To rid the fort of this nuisance, its custodian Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has restricted general entry to the fort by introducing ticket for tourists and visitors. The need for ticketing was acknowledged officially by ASI about 20 years ago but the order could not be implemented.
“Kalinjar is an ‘abhedya’ (impenetrable) fort that has survived all odds over centuries,” said PK Mishra, superintending archaeologist, ASI, Lucknow, adding that “To save the fort, it is important to maintain it and the task begins with fight against encroachment. Thus, tickets were introduced.”
While brigands had been the reason to take action pertaining to the fort till 2010, the current trigger was a local effort to raise 'a “mazar-sort-of-structure” in one of the portions of the fort.
An ASI source said villagers were trying to build a mazar (shrine) of emperor Sher Shah Suri who was killed in the fort in 1545. “Spooky tales about Suri facilitated coming up of the mazar,” said the source. He also stated that the illegal structure was demolished in the last week of March.
“Since the fort and structures inside are of Hindu origin, the mazar could have led to a communal issue in the region,” said an officer in the local administration. There is no mention of the ‘alleged structure’ in the fort on turning Kalinjar into a ticketed monument.
The tourism sector has welcomed the move. “Kalinjar with its strong fortress, Ajaigarh (the twin part of Kalinjar) with its palace and Khajuraho with its magnificent temples were regarded military, civil and religious capitals of the Chandella kings who built them. Thousands of tourists throng Khujaraho but only a few travel to Kalinjar which is barely 130 kilometers away,” said Prateek Hira, who facilitates foreign tourist groups in UP.