Shaniwarwada dimly lit as fancy lamp posts lie unused

PUNE: Kashish Joshi frequently visits the dargah of Sufi saint Hazrat Maqbul Hussain Madani and Mhasoba temple at Shaniwarwada, but the homemaker fails to understand why the fort is not adequately lit at night for the visitors; security.
“The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has initiated a number of projects to give a heritage look to the palace of the Peshwas.Installation of the decorative streetlights a part of it. But the project has stopped midway” said Sana Hundekar, a dentist and regular visitor to the dargah.
Joshi and Hundekar’s concerns are over 40 decorative streetlights are gathering dust at Shaniwarwada for more than a year. The PMC has stopped midway the work to install the lights on the fort premises and cited the wait for a objection certificate (NOC) from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for the delay. ASI officials, however, claimed that they had approved the project almost three years ago.

Environmentalist Zakir Shaikh said the PMC’s heritage committee had planned to install the lights to give a heritage look to the Shaniwarwada Fort constructed by the Peshwas in 1732. “A few lights were installed, but the work suddenly stopped. Several poles of the streetlights are lying on the fort premises for over a year, gathering dust and getting rusted. The authorities should speed up the work for public interest and to attract tourists and heritage enthusiasts. The ASI also should repair the dilapidated walls of the old structure,” he said.
Heritage enthusiast Nikhil Paranjpe said,“Shaniwarwada is not properly lit and its premises should be kept clean. The PMC should ensure that the dark corners are illuminated and maintained on a regular basis. The ASI needs to change the brick layers, mortar and stones in a way that it should revive the historic glory of Shaniwarwada. No additional should be introduced. All work should be executed in accordance with the old maps maintained by the ASI.”
PMC chief engineer (electric) Srinivas Kandul told TOI that the civic authorities had purchased 84,000 LEDs and were in the process to buy 50,000 lamps.
He said, “The contractor appointed for the project has being asked to collect the old lamps while installing the new ones in accordance with the terms and conditions of the deal.”
Deputy municipal commissioner Madhav Deshpande (Zone V) said, “We have laid the base for the decorative lamps outside Shaniwarwada, but the ASI suddenly stopped the work on the grounds that its NOC was a must to execute the project up to a particular radius.”
ASI assistant conservator (Pune) B B Yelikar said,“We gave the NOC to the PMC to install the decorative lights around three years ago, but I don’t know why they have stopped the work. We also gave them the NOC to renovate the light-and-sound show, change the seating arrangements, lay electric cables, instal a flag post, develop a garden and replace the old railings. There have been certain conditions like they have to increase the number of security guards and our officials will supervize the development of the garden.”
The Vishrambaug ward office’s sub-engineer (electric), Mukund Langarkande, said, “We executed the lightand- sound project at an open auditorium on the palace grounds of Shaniwarwada after obtaining a NOC from the ASI. We had simultaneously started the work of installing the decorative lamps. But the ASI officials asked us to stop the work and insisted that we obtain a fresh NOC from their heritage committee before going ahead with the project.”
He added, “We have submitted a proposal and drawings, identifying the spot where 30 lamps will be installed in C-shape around the heritage structure. This will exclude the H V Desai college stretch. Our proposal is pending for sanction at the office of ASI director at New Delhi. Once we get the nod, the project will be executed within a month.
While most of the top monuments in the ASI’s Mumbai circle, including Mumbai’s Elephanta Caves, have been witnessing a decrease in the number of Indian tourists, the footfall at Shaniwarwadahad started reviving since early 2017 and surged to over 12 lakh from 9-odd lakh in 2015.