Conservation of heritage Town Hall to start soon: Civic Chief

Aurangabad, Aug 4:

The administrator and municipal commissioner of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), A K Pandey, today clarified that the conservation of heritage structure - Town Hall will be undertaken soon and has also ordered the AMC's tourism section to conduct an inspection and prepare the detailed project report (DPR).

It may be noted that the AurangabadFirst (Lokmat Times) had published the news highlighting the pathetic condition of Town Hall, in its Aurangabad edition, dated July 1. The new under the headline 'Protected structure craves for protection' underlined that the Town Hall is under the custodian of AMC, but it is gasping for a fresh lease of life, for the past decade. The heritage is facing severe menace from bats, rainwater and is craving for the immediate attention of its

custodian, but the pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears of the civic authorities.

" I had come to know about the condition of heritage structure through the news report and had already ordered the section concerned for taking immediate action. Presently, we are facing a health challenge since the prediction has been made about the arrival of the third wave of Covid-19. We all are busy in planning over how to tackle it. As soon as the situation eases, I am giving a word that we will undertake the conservation of Town Hall on priority," stressed A K Pandey.

It may be noted that the heritage-lovers were hoping that AMC can undertake the conservation of Town Hall through Smart City funds as already the works of preserving eight gates and one Clock Tower (Shahgunj) is underway. When the heritage-lovers expectation was brought into notice, the civic chief underlined, " The type of works is not major, therefore, the AMC will complete it through our funds allocated for the conservation of heritage structures in the annual budget. The work will be done with an aim to give a push to the cultural activities as soon as possible."

We are bound to conserve it : Bhombe

When contacted the assistant commissioner (tourism) Nandkishore Bhombe said," Acting upon the orders of the administrator, I had spent a couple of hours and inspected the Town Hall. I had interaction with the in charge of it and obtained the details of their demands. We will conserve the heritage at any cost and get rid of bats, fix steel mesh (grills) to prevent the entry of these birds, etc. The water clogging at the circular-shaped ground floor, on the terrace and colouring of the structure, increase of green cover on campus, replacement of water outlets from the terrace, sealing of cracks, etc. We will be hiring heritage experts from Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL) to prepare the DPR and then undertake the works through AMC funds. We are its custodian, therefore, we are bound to conserve the heritage."

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Demands made for the past decade!

The civic officials and personnel concerned, through its channel are corresponding with various superiors, since 2011. Through correspondence, they tried to attract the attention of the higher officials to undertake colouring of the heritage structure (from outer and interior side), fix steel mesh on open windows like the one's installed in the Bibi ka Maqbara, replacing water outlets on the terrace, filling of cracks in the heritage structure, etc. The 'Peepal trees' are growing on the parapet wall of the terrace. The roots of these trees are blocking the flow of rainwater passing

through the small size outlets and thus standing pool of water is formed on the terrace frequently during the monsoon. It remains for days at a stretch. Many a time, the terrace water overflows and gets accumulated in the lobby of the Town Hall at the ground floor. Of all, bats are causing severe menace and harming the heritage from inside. There are around 16 open vertical shaped windows (of 5 feet height and 2 feet width) that needs to be fixed with steel mesh immediately. The mesh will prevent bats from entering the building. All these demands are not being unattended by the superiors for the past many years, said the sources.