The national capital’s glorious past is being slowly destroyed, but no one seems to notice.
276 structures of historical importance have vanished from city in the last 20 yrs
NEW DELHI: The national capital’s glorious past is being slowly destroyed, but no one seems to notice. The last 20 years have been the worst for Delhi’s heritage as about 276 monuments of historical importance have vanished from the city’s landscape in this period. The capital has a total of 1,256 such monuments.
Experts believe things have come to such a pass because there is a lack of sensitivity among people and the government.
“There is no shortage of funds or manpower. What is lacking is the will and sensitivity. People here are not very interested in preserving the past,” OP Jain, conservationist and adviser to Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, said.
Elaborating, he said in the past eight years, about 12 heritage structures have been demolished in the city. “It is a constant fight between conservationists and the government. We want these monuments to be declared protected sites, but the government is not responding,” Jain said.
That over 250 of the 1,256 heritage structures in the capital are either in private buildings or close to residential areas and hence, prone to damage, compounds the problem.
“There has been a lot concretisation in Delhi in the last few years. The land mafia has become very active and it doesn’t care much for history and culture. They just want to erect buildings, even if it means razing heritage sites,” Jain said, adding that the latest heritage structure to be razed was Haksar Haveli, once the house of first prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s mother.
“If we can’t protect the houses of our leaders, how do we expect to protect other buildings?” he lamented.
Meanwhile, the 2010 Commonwealth Games have brought some respite to the conservationists. The Delhi government has decided to facelift 92 monuments, not because they are in a dilapidated state, but they would be exposed to the foreign players and officials who would come to Delhi for the Games.
“Since these structures would fall on metro rail routes and roads likely to be taken by international players, we have decided to do them up,” a senior government official said.
v_gyan@dnaindia.net
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