6 monuments fall to encroachers

NEW DELHI: At a time when Delhi government is making grand plans to take over the role of caretaker of monuments not protected by the ASI, their task seems to be cut out. Six such structures on Delhi Development Authority (DDA) land in Mehrauli area have been allegedly encroached upon in the past few days.
"It has been going on for several weeks now.These people, claiming to be from Waqf Board, have taken over the premises. They have painted the original wall and converted the structures into masjids,'' said a DDA official. All this was done during the night. Few days back, centrally-protected Jamali-Kamali tomb was also encroached upon. ASI Delhi chief KK Mohammad said that a police complaint had been lodged in the Mehrauli police station but no action has been taken yet.
DDA officials have also lodged a complaint about encroachment on six monuments, at Mehrauli police station. "We have received a complaint from DDA officials. But we cannot initiate any action without verifying the authenticity of the claims,'' said a police official.
Officials from the state department of archaeology who are preparing a list of unprotected monuments admitted it was a serious problem. "We have sent the first list to be notified to the L-G office. But our basic concern is about certain monuments tucked away in remote corners of the city. We are trying to bring them under our purview,'' said a senior official from the department. Many such monuments built during dynasties that have ruled over Delhi are located in Mehrauli. But only a few are under central protection.
Maulana Hafiz Zuber Ahmed, who claims to be the caretaker of one such encroached structure, said: "We have been living here since 2003. We took permission from the Waqf Board.'' Verifying his credentials, he showed his Waqf board identity card. His family stays in the adjacent structure, which too was also encroached.
However, chairman, Waqf Board, Mateen Ahmed, denied the board's direct involvement. He said a group had approached him a few days ago stating that the structure had the mark of a mosque and thus, they wanted to offer Namaaz there. "I asked them to go ahead. However, with the DDA's complaint, we will now verify the ownership of the structure and if it belongs to DDA, we will vacate.''
On the alleged encroachment in Jamali-Kamali tomb, he said: "We only wish to offer namaaz there once or twice a week. ASI can keep the ownership.'' ASI officials, however, said that prayers were not permitted in protected monuments.