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Friday, May 7, 2010


Islamic History
07 May 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com
Archaeological Survey Of India Finds A Home In Mughal Monuments

Apart from their love for architecture, the Emperor Shahjahan and the Director General (DG) of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have another thing in common: their residence at the Red Fort.
Inside the colonial buildings at the 17th Century World Heritage Site, the ASI DG Gautam Sengupta and senior officials have found two-bedroom sets. The Mughal building of Naubat Khana has been turned into an office.
Besides the Red Fort, the ASI has guesthouses at Purana Quila, Safdarjung’s Tomb and even in Fatehpur Sikri — to name a few. -- Sweta Dutta



Archaeological Survey Of India Finds A Home In Mughal Monuments
By Sweta Dutta
New Delhi: Apart from their love for architecture, the Emperor Shahjahan and the Director General (DG) of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have another thing in common: their residence at the Red Fort.
Inside the colonial buildings at the 17th Century World Heritage Site, the ASI DG Gautam Sengupta and senior officials have found two-bedroom sets. The Mughal building of Naubat Khana has been turned into an office.
Besides the Red Fort, the ASI has guesthouses at Purana Quila, Safdarjung’s Tomb and even in Fatehpur Sikri — to name a few.
The accommodations are meant for the officials of the ASI, Ministry of Culture and special guests. Mostly located in heritage buildings — these quarters have undergone a makeover, with fancy tilework, granite flooring, wooden interiors and air-conditioners.
The development comes at a time when a strict vigil is being planned on renovation and construction at historic sites. An amendment in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act 2010 calls for the constitution of a watchdog body — the National Monuments Authority — for this purpose. The amendment states: “No permission including carrying out any public work or project essential to the public or other constructions, shall be granted in any prohibited area on or after the date on which the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Bill 2010 receives the assent of the President.”
When the Army was made to march out of the Red Fort in December 2003, political circles discussed the relocation of ASI officials as well, but nothing came of it.
The guesthouses at the Red Fort and Fatehpur Sikri are colonial buildings which were eventually converted. Those in Purana Quila and Safdarjung’s Tomb came up after Independence just to accommodate officials.
Though senior ASI officials are entitled to government housing, the Delhi Circle superintending archaeologist and conservation assistant have been living at the Red Fort for over a year. The DG, who joined office in the last week of December, has lived there since then. Around four to five families of ASI officials live in the Red Fort, said sources in the ASI.
As for the offices in the heritage monuments (see box), conservationists say officials of heritage bodies across the world do have such offices, but these are temporary arrangements. And even then, certain specifications are strictly followed.
AGK Menon, the Town Planner and Convenor, Delhi Chapter, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), said: “Syria’s Alleppo Fort, where excavation is underway by a German team, has the team leader living in it. But this is a temporary arrangement.”
Gurmeet Rai, conservationist and Director, Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative, said: “The spirit of the monument and its historic value should never be compromised when changes are made to it. Monuments should be put to adaptive reuse, officials should not abuse it.”
Even the Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan for the Red Fort passed by the UNESCO says while the colonial structures can be used by officials, the Mughal buildings should be left untouched.
But the Naubat Khana, which houses the site manager’s office, has been redone with wooden furnishing, electricity connections with air-conditioner fittings and tilework in the toilet.
Next to the Hamam is a room which houses a huge transformer and Rai said this could pose a huge threat to the building in case of oil leakage or a short-circuit.
ASI defensive
The ASI officials maintain that around 300 structures in the Red Fort will be demolished over the next month. But those that have offices or guesthouses are heritage buildings, so there is no question of doing away with them. The officials claim that offices within the heritage precincts help them operate better. “We begin inspection during morning walks every day. It is essential to have offices within the monuments as this helps in overseeing their maintenance,” said a senior ASI official.
ASI Offices At Monuments
Call it a lack of space elsewhere or an operational requirement — as the ASI officials claim — the body operates from a significant number of offices within heritage precincts.
RED FORT: In addition to the guesthouse, has the offices of the Institute of Archaeology, CA’s office and the site manager’s office.
Purana Quila: Offices of excavation branch, horticulture branch, Central Antiquity Collection’s office and the conservation assistant’s office.
: If the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is operating out of protected monuments like the Red Fort or the Old Fort in Delhi, it is not out of choice but due to compulsion, senior officials would have you believe. At least some offices were intended to be “temporary arrangements” with the ASI having acquired two plots of land in the Capital and one in Greater Noida over a decade ago.

A 25-acre plot near Pari Chowk in Greater Noida was acquired by the ASI in 1996-97 to develop an international campus for the Institute of Archaeology and the Central Antiquity Collection at a cost of Rs 39.5 crore. However, with work yet to start on the project, the Greater Noida authorities wrote to the ASI for repossession of land. At this , the then ASI Director General K N Shrivastav raised a boundary wall to show that work has started. An expression of interest was issued to select an architect and consultant around a year ago, but no name has been finalised yet.

In 2002-03, the ASI was allotted the ‘D Block’ of a proposed Central government office complex in INA. It was planned that the Delhi Circle office, Building Survey Department, Science Branch and some other offices would be shifted there. The project was estimated at Rs 29 crore, but not a brick has been put in place since.

The Delhi Circle office, earlier accommodated at the Red Fort, was shifted out last year to Safdarjung’s Tomb. The Horticultural Branch, Science Branch and other such offices have all been accommodated at the Old Fort. ASI officials said the offices run from an old school building constructed soon after Independence for refugees from Pakistan who were living inside the Old Fort.

On the other hand, top officials at the ASI headquarters are waiting for a more spacious office at 24 Tilak Marg — the erstwhile Belgian Embassy was taken over by the ASI in 1985 and converted into a campus for the Institute of Archaeology. Since the institute shifted to Red Fort, the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities has been operating from the address. For over five years, the ASI has been thinking of shifting its headquarters from 1 Janpath. Sources said the file is with the Delhi Urban Art Commission for approval over the last six months.

The ASI has pushed its own offices inside monuments at a time when its new conservation rules stipulate that “no permission, including carrying out any public work or project essential to the public or other constructions, shall be granted in any prohibited area...”
Living in history

The Institute of Archaeology, which was accommodated for a few years at 24 Tilak Marg and then at the ASI’s 1 Janpath headquarters, has shifted to a Raj era building within the Red Fort.

The Central Antiquity collection operates out of the Old Fort.
ASI’s Delhi Circle office, earlier accommodated within the Red Fort, was shifted out early last year to Safdarjung’s Tomb.

The Horticultural Branch, Science Branch and other such offices have all been accommodated at the Old Fort.

Source: Indian Express, New Delhi


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