Gilbert Hill: The first among equals

Even as Andheri residents urge Unesco to include it in the world heritage list, Rajendra Aklekar and photographer Pratham Gokhale scale the 6,50,00,000-year-old hill to find out what makes it so unique.

Residents of Andheri have appealed to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation to include the Gilbert Hill monument in the world heritage list. They have also asked the World Monument Fund and the local authorities seeking its protection from the developments happening around it that is threatening the very existence of the 65 million-year-old hill.

But none have taken note of their appeal and residents even fear the hill being delisted from the local heritage list.

“It is the only hill of its kind in India and had been reportedly declared a National Park by the Central government in 1952. The 200-foot-high vertical columns of the Gilbert hill are similar to the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, and the Devil’s Post Pile National Monument in eastern California, USA. Gilbert Hill is one of the only two hills in the world of the same type,” stated activist Shail Rao-Rane and trustees of the Shree Goandevi Durga Devasthan Trust.

“We also find that the hill has been deleted from the latest heritage list. It is not fair; it leaves the hill unprotected. We also approached the UNESCO team, but they said that they would not be able to intervene in the matter,” Rao-Rane told DNA.

He said after years of lobbying and public interest litigation by a Gaondevi Durga Devsthan Trust for the protection of the hill, the pre-historic Gilbert Hill had finally been notified of its status as a heritage structure. It was notified as a heritage Grade II structure in February 2008. However, civic officials said that the hill had not been delisted as a protected monument.

“The hill does not find mention in the heritage list as the new proposed list is an addition to the existing list. Since it is already in the old list, it does not find mention in the new list,” Pankaj Joshi executive director of Urban Design Research Institute said. Another resident said that despite being declared a “national park” under the Forest Act in 1952, the hill has seen rapid destruction over the years.