'The milestones are grade-I heritage structures but are in a state of despair. There are 15 heritage milestones listed, of which many have disappeared over the years,' said a city historian.
The city’s original 15 milestones that were placed across the city over two hundred years ago are on the verge of vanishing one by one. The latest to face that threat is the one at Chinchpokli to facilitate the construction of the monorail.
“The milestone has been there for ages in one corner of the footpath, but work on the monorail is now threatening to almost demolish it. A huge pit has been dug just next to it and we are trying to get it saved by all means,” Santosh D Jadhav, an activist.
“The milestones are grade-I heritage structures but are in a state of despair. There are 15 heritage milestones listed, of which many have disappeared over the years,” said a city historian.
“Milestones are small but important markers of the city’s heritage and should be respected,” said conservation architect Vikas Dilawari.
The latest list of the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority’s(MMRDA) Heritage committee lists 16 original milestones, including the one at the Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Byculla.
These milestones were put up from 1816-1837 and these basalt stones, originally three or four feet tall, mark the distance in miles from St Thomas’s Cathedral, Fort which, in the eighteenth century, comprised the city-centre.
“We need to respect our history and not obliterate in the name of progress,” said Tasneem Mehta, of Intach.
“ They may look like neglected pieces of stone markers, but they are a part of whole set of markers and should not be seen in isolation. The farthest milestone is at Sion, where Mumbai city border ended back then,” he added.
“We are aware of the heritage stone in the vicinity, but it is a few meters away from the monorail’s actual alignment. It will not be disturbed. We shall do everything to protect and conserve it,” MMRDA joint project director and spokesperson Dilip Kawathkar said.
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