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Monumental neglect all around

Last Updated 04 October 2015, 02:25 IST

The narrow bylanes of Nabi Karim in Paharganj lack the grandeur that you may expect of a heritage site. Locals look up surprised when you mention the Qadam Sharief.

 It is only when you enter the “Qila” road, that they promptly guide you to “keep going straight” to reach the Qila Qadam Sharief.

Soon you reach the Inner Gateway of Qila Qadam Sharief which today stands neglected. The unprotected site shows serious signs of deterioration.

A medical store’s banner hangs from the gateway making it look like any regular entry point. It is flanked by a paan shop and the MCD malaria inspector’s office on the left. The overhead cables run through the gateway.

 “Only a few elderly people are aware the gateway has high heritage value. There has been no maintenance of the monument for the past many years now,” says Kamal Kumar, who runs a grocery store next to the site.

The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) had identified the Inner Gateway of Qila Qadam Sharief as of “Archaeological Value A”.

The site is not protected by any agency and has not been well preserved either. It has pointed arched openings and the walls are made of rubble masonry. This is just one of the several unprotected sites in bad condition in the Capital.

The site has now been notified by INTACH. This means the site cannot be demolished without permission, says A G K Menon, convener of INTACH’s Delhi Chapter. 

On the way you pass a mosque with ornamental facade which is now in ruins and turned into a garbage dumpyard. It has been like this “forever now”, say locals. The ground floor houses a dry cleaner’s shop.

The Qadam Sharif dargah is not easy to locate even after reaching the well-maintained mosque. The compound remains crowded with children playing. The dargah, however, remains mostly shut. As two youths get the keys and open the gate, the insides speak of the neglected state it has been for years now.

There is graffiti on the walls. Its compund was used as a storeroom for building material. The ceiling sported a neglected look with the beautiful carvings only partly visible.

“There has been no support from any quarter for the renovation of the dargah. Its condition has gone worse over time. However, on Thursdays the dargah remains packed with people coming to offer prayers here. During other times, we usually keep it locked,” says Sultan Amiruddin, the caretaker .

“It used to be a beautiful shrine, we have heard,” says Mohammed Anas,22, who sells artificial jewellery in Sadar Bazar market. 

Since 2010, INTACH, with the Delhi archaeology department, has so far documented around 150 sites which have historic or architectural value. In all, 250 sites which need documentation have been identified.

“While several sites are protected under the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India), several sites remain unprotected,” says Menon. They too need to be documentated so that they do not vanish or are vandalized.

“After notification and documentation of such sites, the government will take a call on which sites need to be conserved. These are public assets and need to be preserved. Documentation is also a lengthy procedure and we are carrying out the process in phases,” he says.

Dhaba in mosque
The Paharganj Main Bazaar lane houses several such treasures. Two mosques here with high domes remain in poor condition. Encroachments and neglect are visible.
One such mosque houses a dhaba on the first floor. It also shares a boundary wall with a lodge.

“The corporation had filed a case against us for running the dhaba from here. But now we have sorted things out,” says Fahre Alam.

He adds mutton korma and rumali roti are the most popular items here. The neighbouring shopkeeper confirms the dhaba was shut down a few months back, but soon it opened shop again.

One kilometre away from the Main Bazaar on Qutab Road lies another structure, the Imambara. The site was encroached upon with commercial activities in the monument. Over a year back, the Delhi State Archaeology Department took over the renovation work there as it was cited as a site of high archaeological value lying in severe deterioration.

The Imambara was earlier in an enclosure. But the enclosure has now vanished. “Renovation work started after the shops within and around the monument were pulled down,” says Jitendar Kumar, 26.

ASI-protected  
If the unprotected monuments in the Capital are at a threat, several of the city’s ASI-protected monuments are also in poor condition. With an acute staff crunch in the department, littering at sites is common.

Dhalaos, the municipal garbage dumps, outside prominent monuments are common. So are toilet blocks encroaching on the sites. Proximity of parking vehicles to monuments also leads to the damage.

The road-level has gone up near the Delhi Gate, Khooni Darwaza and Tripolia Gate which leads to garbage being swept towards the site. The Daryaganj City Wall and the Kashmere Gate City Wall are also among the neglected monuments.

“The ASI has no magisterial powers and therefore it is not the enforcement agency. It was recently communicated to the Ministry of Urban Development and the municipal corporations of Delhi to remove the dhalaos from around the monuments.

There needs to be coordination between the corporations and the Delhi Police on the issue of encroachments. Community participation is required to maintain the ASI-protected sites. So locals need to be sensitised on the heritage value of monuments,” says R S Fonia, Joint Director, ASI.

Old Delhi’s heritage
The city of Shahjahanabad which houses a wide range of monuments and havelis today is a congested place. There are over 520 havelis in the walled city. These are mostly private properties which have not been maintained well.

The condition of most of these havelis is now poor. Several such havelis have been turned into workshops or are used as warehouses. The Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation (SRDC) has now found that both handicraft and chemical industries are run out of the havelis.

Several cases of fires have broken out in the recent months in the absence of lack of safeguards.

“The heritage buildings have not been maintained due to lack of funds. We are looking at various options to revive these havelis. One way of maintaining the heritage is facilitating coordination between hoteliers and the owners.

In this case, the government will also give tax redemptions for owners in maintaining the property,” says Nitin Panigrahi, Deputy General Manager, Project and Administration, SRDC.

In the long term, the SRDC is planning to turn Old Delhi into a tourist hub by reviving the several heritage places there. Exhibitions in iconic buildings like the Town Hall are also in the pipeline.

The mushrooming of several trades, and loading and unloading of goods near the monuments is one reason for their deterioration, say experts. 
 
“But revival of the heritage
sites in Shahjahanabad is possible only through a revitalisation of Chandni Chowk area,” says Pamigrahi. This would involve shifting at least some commercial activity out of the area.

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(Published 04 October 2015, 02:25 IST)

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