NDMC steps in to save heritage tomb

A day after HT drew attention to the threat posed to an unnamed tomb on Sher Shah Suri Marg by an upcoming underground parking across Delhi High Court, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) issued an urgent ‘stop work’ notice, reports Nivedita Khandekar.

A day after HT drew attention to the threat posed to an unnamed tomb on Sher Shah Suri Marg by an upcoming underground parking across Delhi High Court, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) issued an urgent ‘stop work’ notice.

HT Image

The council’s chief architect has issued a stop work notice to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Chennai-based Consolidated Construction Consortium (CCCL) and Samjung Tech Consortium (design and build) are carrying out the construction work with DMRC being the consultants for the six-level underground parking.

“We issued a stop work notice to DMRC,” confirmed NDMC spokesperson Anand Tiwari.

The unnamed tomb of the Sher Shah Suri-era (15th century) figures in the list of 141 heritage structures in NDMC area notified by Delhi government.

It means, no alterations or demolition can be made to any of the structures in the list without referring the proposal to the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC).

NDMC officials said” “We will refer the case the DUAC and the HCC once the DMRC completes the documentation.”

“...full fledged work will start only when we have all requisite permissions.”

“As far as the safety of the monument is concerned, plans are afoot to ensure the monument remains safe. We will take all adequate safety measures for its protection,” he said.

Dayal said they had written to the Archaeological Survey of India but it does not come in the list of ASI-protected monuments.

“However, in spite of that, the DMRC will ensure full protection of the monument,” Dayal added.