Facelift of historic gates still on paper

  • | Thursday | 20th September, 2018

After all hard work is put in, certain elements in AMC ask for money to clear our bills. Majority of these structures, however, are on the verge of extinction with some already wiped out from the geography of the city.Maya Vaidya, co-convener of INTACH Aurangabad chapter, said her organisation had submitted proposals for renovation of historic gates on many occasions. The actual work has to be performed by private contractor under our guidance.”A private contractor, who did not wish to be identified, said that alleged rampant unethical practices at the level of AMC prove a dampener in heritage conservation work. “The restoration of heritage sites is not like other construction work. “Only a few of these proposals were accepted, while the rest gathered dust.

(Done.)Aurangabad: Nearly one and a half years after its announcement, the civic body’s proposal for a facelift of five historic gates in the city has failed to see light of the day, exposing these vulnerable structures to possible irrevocable damage.Jafar Gate, Barapulla Gate, Naubat Darwaza, Kala Gate and Paithan Gate were expected to undergo renovation as announced by the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) in May last year.The AMC had also announced financial outlay for the project with Naubat Darwaza being slated to receive maximum share of around Rs 17.22 lakh, followed by Kala Darwaza (9.77 Lakh), Paithan Gate (8.97 Lakh), Barapulla Gate (6.77 Lakh) and Jafar Gate (4.42 Lakh).Jayant Deshpande, chief of Heritage Conservation Committee of AMC, said the desired facelift to the gates in question could not be given due to technical issues.“The civic authorities concerned had floated tenders to invite expert groups for carrying out renovation work, but the bidding involved poor response despite best possible efforts,” he said.The proposed renovation works included strengthening of the gates and their colouring along with cleaning of nearby areas. While tenders were floated by the civic body, no private firm showed interest within the bidding window of three months then.Deshpande said that resource persons from the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) could be roped in for carrying out the renovation works.“In the wake of poor response to earlier bidding process, we will suggest to the civic administration to directly appoint INTACH experts for executing the task.”Aurangabad has been historically referred to as the city of 52 gates with each of them having its own history and historical figures linked with it. Majority of these structures, however, are on the verge of extinction with some already wiped out from the geography of the city.Maya Vaidya, co-convener of INTACH Aurangabad chapter, said her organisation had submitted proposals for renovation of historic gates on many occasions. “Only a few of these proposals were accepted, while the rest gathered dust. We act only as consultant and offer supervision. The actual work has to be performed by private contractor under our guidance.”A private contractor, who did not wish to be identified, said that alleged rampant unethical practices at the level of AMC prove a dampener in heritage conservation work. “The restoration of heritage sites is not like other construction work. It requires different techniques and expertise. After all hard work is put in, certain elements in AMC ask for money to clear our bills. We cannot afford to entertain such errant elements as the budget for heritage conservation itself falls short of expectation.”Municipal commissioner Nipun Vinayak could not be reached for his comment.Earlier, conservation architects had accused the civic body of declaring budget for conservation of the aforesaid five gates without consulting any resource persons.Khas Gate along with fortification wall of Himayat Bagh, section of Neher-e-Ambari, portion of Neher-e-Panchakki, Damdi Mahal, Fazil Pura Bridge, Dargah Bridge and Mehmood Gate are some of the structures that have been considerably damaged due to apathy of the civic authorities and elected representatives.

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