BMC contractor damages Banganga’s heritage steps, ASI, locals livid

BMC contractor damages heritage steps at Banganga tank with JCB machine, facing backlash from ASI and GSB Temple trust for negligence

MUMBAI: The BMC was left red-faced on Monday after a contractor appointed to desilt the eleventh-century Banganga tank mowed over the surrounding heritage steps with a JCB machine, thereby causing irrevocable damage to them. The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) has rapped the civic body, stating that Banganga is a state-protected monument and the use of the JCB machine has wrecked the steps. The GSB Temple trust, which owns the Banganga tank and is overseeing its restoration work, is also pressing for an FIR to be registered against the BMC for its negligence.

Mumbai, India - June 24, 2024: Stairs of Banganga Tank damage due to JCB, at Walkeshwar, in Mumbai, India, on Monday, June 24, 2024. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Rutwik Aurangbadkar, the CEO (projects) of the trust, said that he had informed the state archeology department. “The work has stopped but we will write to the department and it will file an FIR under the State Monuments Act,” he said. “This was done by a BMC contractor who had come for desilting and instead destroyed the heritage steps with a JCB machine, which was not allowed on the premises in the first place. It is shocking.” Aurangabadkar said the trust would treat the steps immediately.

Ashish Trivedi, a local resident, said that it had been decided that the BMC would put a rubber plank on the steps and then bring in the machinery. “But the ASI official told us that no permission was ever granted for such heavy machinery,” he said. “When I went there at 1 pm, I asked the contractor which agency had given him permission to enter the precinct. The heritage steps are unfortunately destroyed now.”

Trivedi said that Banganga was not just a heritage site. “The steps hold religious and cultural significance,” he said. “People know that Shri Ram had visited this place and climbed those very steps. The locals are very upset.”

The ASI, in a strongly worded letter to the BMC’s D ward, has pulled it up for damaging the heritage steps and asked it to submit a fact-finding report on the same. “A ‘No Disturbance’ certificate was issued to the executive engineer of D ward… through the directorate for preservation, conservation and beautification of this state-protected monument. Clear instructions were given in the Naharkat certificate that the said work should be done according to archaeological indications,” stated the ASI.

Sujitkumar Ugle, director of the cultural affairs department in the directorate of archeology and museums, cited Rule No 8 of the Maharashtra Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Ruins Rules, 1962, which emphasises that no act that can cause damage or injury to any part of a monument is allowed. “Earlier, we used a small machine to remove the silt from this lake,” he said. “However, on Monday, the heavy JCB machine was used to remove silt and damaged the steps. It is seen that this work is not done according to the archaeological indications,” he said in his letter to the BMC.

Ugle added that the work had to be stopped immediately. “The fact-finder, along with the photograph, should be submitted to this office immediately, and the heavy machinery should be removed from the Banganga lake,” he said.

“Also, there should be no further use of similar heavy machinery, otherwise the non-impairment certificate issued to you earlier will be cancelled.”

A civic official from D ward, when questioned, claimed that the contractor had tried to bring in the JCB but had to stop because the stone steps started dislodging. “The ASI had only done previous work on three corners of the tank, not the portion where the steps were dislodged,” he said. “The stones had been marked by the BMC for restoration. Some stones were brittle, and there was a proposal in place to remove and refix them. We will reinstate the stones in their original place but they are not damaged.”

The civic official added that all 13 hutments around the tank had been removed. “It will be cleaned and the stones will be refixed immediately,” he said.

Banganga Precinct

Banganga Tank in Walkeshwar is a Grade 1 heritage precinct, privately owned by the Gaud Saraswat Brahmin Temple Trust and maintained by the state archaeology department. There are 16 prominent temples, including Kashi and Kavale Math, in the precinct.

The tank is a large rectangular water tank with steps gifted by the Silhara dynasty in 1127 to honour the Hindu god Shiva. The surrounding temples and ghats complement the tank, fed by an underground spring of sweet water, its origins intertwined with Indian mythology. The plan is to revive the Ram Kund water body in order to perform asthi visarjan (immersion of ashes of the deceased) and other religious rituals.