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
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
9:53 PM
Sultan Shahin
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