IAF asks civic body to restore Madh Fort, want 80-feet high tricolour

The Indian Air Force (IAF), which is in possession of the Madh Fort in the western suburb of Mumbai, has written to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to restore the fort after which the IAF wants an 80-feet high national flag installed on its periphery.

Mumbai: The Indian Air Force (IAF), which is in possession of the Madh Fort in the western suburb of Mumbai, has written to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to restore the fort after which the IAF wants an 80-feet high national flag installed on its periphery.

IAF asks civic body to restore Madh Fort, want 80-feet high tricolour

The IAF also told the BMC that the fort was surveyed last year to be included in the world heritage list of the UNESCO. The BMC and Malad West MLA Aslam Shaikh have, in turn, demanded that the fort must be opened to public as a tourist destination.

In a letter to the BMC on January 10, the commanding officer Group Captain Vipin Rehani of IAF’s Madh base wrote to the assistant commissioner of P North ward of BMC, Kiran Dighavkar seeking help in restoration of the fort. In December 2022, a BMC team had visited the fort.

The letter said that IAF has been doing its best to maintain the fort over the years, but due to budgetary cuts across the board and consequent shortage of funds, the condition of the fort is currently sub-optimal.

With the aim to enhance the look and the aesthetics of Madh Fort, Rehani suggested a plan for development of fort and other areas in the vicinity and the letter mentions that IAF can get a NOC from its headquarters.

The letter also says that the IAF wants an 80-feet high national flag on the ground adjacent to Madh Fort and had approached Jindal Flag Foundation of India (JFFI) for installation of the monumental flag.

The CEO of the JFFI agreed to the proposal on the condition that, post the installation, the flag will be maintained with dignity as per Flag Code 2002. The IAF has said that annual cost of maintaining the flag and lights will be ₹45,000 and the BMC will have to bear it

The letter by IAF said that Madh Fort was also surveyed by a team of conservation architects on the behest of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in November 2022. As per initial study, the fort walls are in a good shape and can be restored unlike many other forts along the coastline of Maharashtra.

Subject to the suitability of the fort as per the report of the conservationists, the ASI will then pitch this fort to be included in the Global Heritage list of UNESCO.

Hindustan Times has a copy of the letter by Rehani. He did not answer calls from this correspondent.

Asking for the fort to be thrown open for public, Malad West MLA Aslam Sheikh said, “When I was the guardian minister of city, Aaditya Thackeray and I, tried to restore the fort. But we didn’t get the NOCs. The fort must be restored and opened to public. We have already taken some steps to improve the area.”

A senior BMC officer said, “The Madh fort was closed in 1990s. Usually, the BMC spends (funds) on places that public can use. We would like the IAF to open the fort to public.”

Presently, Madh area can be accessed from Malad West via Madh Marve road, but soon, the BMC is constructing a bridge from Versova, which is expected to make going to this place much easier.