Metro skips Qutub, ASI still frowning

Maneesh Pandey / TNN / Jun 8, 2006, 00:33 IST

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Just when you thought that Metro's alternative route to Gurgaon was chugging through, the ASI has raised a red flag.

NEW DELHI: Once again the Archaeological Survey of India and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation are at loggerheads. Just when you thought that Metro's alternative route to Gurgaon — drawn up after the heritage buffs derailed it near Qutub Minar — was chugging through, the ASI has raised a red flag.
The proposed stretch is from Hauz Khas to Saket via Sarvapriya Vihar and Malviya Nagar.
The ASI has suddenly woken up to the fact that it "will not only pass from as near as 20 metres from Qila Rai Pithora, but at two points, it will pass exactly below Begumpuri Mosque and Vijay Mandal, both monuments of national importance."
The DMRC had approached ASI with the proposed route last week. This stretch will terminate at Ambedkar Nagar Colony, a kilometre before Chhatarpur, before heading for Gurgaon.

ASI Director-General C Babu Rajeev told Times City: "We have only received a drawing of the proposed route from the DMRC and are waiting for a report from ASI's Delhi Circle. The issue will be taken up at the next meeting with DMRC."
ASI says that at Hauz Khas, the entry and exit points obstruct the Makhdummi Mosque. The tracks will also be within the regulated zone of two other monuments — Idgah at Karera and Chor Minar — in violation of Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1959.

Added a senior ASI officer: "Besides the entry and exit points at Sarvapriya Vihar, the ventilation shafts are well within the prohibited zone of Vijay Mandal...
...
At two separate points while the proposed track will pass from under Vijay Mandal and Begumpuri Mosque, even in Saket and Malviya Nagar, the proposed Metro route is well within the regulated limit of 300 m."
Arguing that they were not against development, C Babu Rajeev asserted that they had a regulatory role to play as far as heritage was concerned. "You cannot sacrifice one for the other.
Like any other agency, we are pro-active on developmental projects in the city, but we have a regulatory role to play as custodians of national heritage which has been given to us under a statue.
We are not imposing our discretion, but what has been laid out in the statue. If development agencies think that these regulations pose a hurdle, they can seek a suitable amendment in the statue."
DMRC is willing to accommodate ASI's objections. "We are for heritage too," said spokesperson Anuj Dayal, "and to ensure that there is no damage to the two monuments — Vijay Mandal and Begumpuri Mosque — we will be going as low as 18-20 metres unlike 12 metres in normal conditions.
We will be using the technology that we used in Walled City, particularly Chawri Bazaar. Even at Jantar Mantar and Kashmiri Gate, we ensured there was no damage to the heritage structures."
C Babu Rajeev defended their intervention. "Delhi's heritage cannot be choked with concrete," he said.
"Even in the west, any development plan is preceded by salvage archaeology where a team of archaeologists examines the area to ascertain the historical value and the project can only be undertaken following a go-ahead by the experts."

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