One of the capital's oldest Mughal-era monuments, Nila Gumbad, is being used as a warehouse by Northern Railways.
When enthusiastic foreign tourists arriving for the Commonwealth Games later this year will take a heritage tour of Delhi, as the government has planned, it is likely that they will come across at least one eyesore.
One of the capital’s oldest Mughal-era monuments, Nila Gumbad, has become a dump!
The 16th-century structure close to the world heritage site of Humayun’s Tomb is being used as a warehouse by Northern Railways, which has dug up the area to construct a building.
With Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI’s) Delhi circle failing to get the railways to clear the debris at the site, sports minister MS Gill has now pitched in to protect Nila Gumbad. Gill recently wrote to prime minister (PM) Manmohan Singh, who also holds the culture portfolio, to intervene and save the monument.
“Nila Gumbad is a valuable monument, evidence of close link with Taimur’s Samarkand. It is suffering because of a conflict between the railways and ASI and the indifference and lack of urgency by both. As culture minister and prime minister, I request you to intervene and give the necessary directions to resolve this conflict,” he wrote.
Interestingly, an ASI source said, it was an “expert advisory committee” of the heritage conservation body that gave the railways permission to build within 100 metres (prohibited area) of the monument. The panel was recently declared illegal by the Delhi high court, with justices AP Shah and S Muralidhar ruling,
“We have no doubt that the setting up of the committee by ASI for advising its director-general on the grant of permission for construction/renovation in a prohibited area was without any legal basis.”
To avoid blame, ASI has filed an FIR against the railways,
demanding a stay on the construction.
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