Now, urinals raise a stink around famed Sonar Fort

JAISALMER: A walk around the outer walls of Jaisalmer's famed Sonar Kella should reflect life in the world's only living fort. Rather, it's stinking, repelling and anything but the environs of a heritage site.
While local residents have turned the outer walls into urinals and can frequently be seen relieving themselves, the apathetic administration has not woken up from the slumber.
Very little is being done to conserve the Unesco-declared World Heritage Site, which is slowly but steadily forcing foreign tourists to stay away.
To compound the issue, the local populace has done little to improve the situation even as the Jaisalmer municipal council in its wisdom decided to construct six public urinals adjoining the walls of the fort!
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) department, which is responsible for maintaining the outer wall, has now shot off a complaint to the municipal council. "Neither the municipal council nor the district administration took our permission while constructing the urinals close to the outer wall. All they did was to construct stone wall a few feet away from the outer wall and declare it a public urinal," said an official of the department.
District collector Matadeen Sharma accepted that the urinals were in bad taste. "We will take up the issue with the municipal council," he said. He also admitted that parking was a major problem at the fort and said that land has been identified for the same. The residents of the fort usually park their vehicles at the main entry. Sonar Fort councillor Arvind Vyas said that lakhs of tourists come to Jaisalmer to see the fort and he often receives complaints about dirty surroundings.
"The administration needs to take strict measures to keep the area and fort walls clean. Moreover, while land has been identified for parking, it has not become functional. Residents of the fort are forced to park their vehicles at the first gate, which blocks entry," he said.