ASI forgets ‘protected’ tomb

There have been instances of heritage monuments gone missing but whose names continue to figure in the list of 'protected' monuments.

There have been instances of heritage monuments gone missing but whose names continue to figure in the list of 'protected' monuments.

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But here's a case of a 13th century structure—Khan Shaheed's Tomb in Mehrauli —that exists but whose name is missing from Archaeological Survey of India's (ASI) list of protected monuments in Delhi.

As you enter the Mehrauli Archaeological Park from the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, Khan Shaheed's Tomb is the first structure on the left. What remains today as Khan Shaheed's Tomb is a rectangular pillared structure with a peculiar vault on a raised platform and remnants of an enclosure wall.

The monument was declared 'protected' by the ASI in the early 1970s. But it neither has the characteristic blue board declaring that this is a centrally protected monument nor does its name figure in ASI's records.

The gaffe came to light when the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), which has been carrying out conservation

work at the Mehrauli Archaeological Park since the last 10 years, dug out revenue records of the area.

ASI Delhi Circle superintending archaeologist K.K. Muhammed said, "Our list does not have this (monument). We are not aware of any such structure."

"We would have to check the revenue records first and only then we would decide on the further course of action," Muhammed said.