HCC expresses concern; orders ASCDCL to seek expertise of INTACH in conservation of Mehmood Darwaza

Aurangabad, Feb 10:

The Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) has ordered the Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL) to consult and seek the expertise of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), in the

conservation of Mehmood Darwaza (Gate), situated near Panchakki, today. The conservation of this critical and dilapidated conditioned gate has been undertaken by the ASCDCL from January 2022. Hence the HCC instructed the

ASCDCL's team and structural audit consultant to conduct independent meetings with INTACH's expert conservation architects and incorporate the recommendations made by them to avoid violation of National Conservation Policy.

It may be noted that the HCC has called an emergency meeting (held after many months) to review the ongoing conservation of Mehmood Darwaza on Thursday. The meeting was held in the newly constructed ASCDCL's office at

Kile Ark. Earlier, the Aurangabad First (Lokmat Times) in its edition has published the news with the headline 'A 400-year-old heritage or 21-st century structure?' and highlighted the apprehensions expressed by the experts and heritage-lovers

over conservation of historic Mehmood Darwaza, on February 4, 2022. According to sources, " Taking cognizance of the news the HCC called an urgent meeting. Earlier, the meeting was scheduled to be held on Monday, but due to the declaration

of the holiday over the demise of prominent singer Lata Mangeshkar, the meeting was rescheduled and held on Thursday."

The meeting chaired by the HCC chairman Jayant Deshpande was attended by Intach's state convenor Mukund Bhogale, member secretary A B Deshmukh, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI, Aurangabad Circle) M S Shivkumar, Assistant

Director of State Archaeology Dr Prashant Sonowe, ASCDCL's additional CEO Arun Shinde, project manager (heritage) Sneha Bakshi, deputy engineer (AMC) Sanjay Kombade, deputy engineer (Department of Tourism) Abhishek Mudiraj,

chairman of the Institute of Engineers (IoE) Dr Uttam Kalvane and others. The ASCDCL chief executive officer (CEO) A K Pandey was also present in the meeting.

HCC thoroughly reviewed the ongoing conservation and beautification of Mehmood Darwaza. The HCC chairman also directed the ASCDCL to construct a new bridge on Kham River, on the side of the gate, to smoothen the flow of traffic.

Nandadeep Design Consultant's Dr Mahesh Verma gave a PowerPoint presentation. The meeting also discussed the implementation of the Aurangabad Bench of the High Court's order in connection with the petition of Sheetal Dahale. Accordingly, the deputy director (Town Planning) has been instructed to draft the heritage DPR.

Deshpande also inspected the new ASCDCL building after the meeting. He also lauded the ASCDCL-CEO for undertaking the task of conserving nine gates and the clock tower in Shahgunj through Smart City funds.

Specific project permission from HCC

According to reliable sources, " INTACH's Bhogale raised several queries related to Mehmood Darwaza like he sought the reason for taking an extreme step of demolishing the arch and roof; Why ASCDCL has not constituted an expert committee to watchdog the ongoing conservation of the above heritage gate; Had the ASCDCL sought consultation or opinion with any two senior conservation architects before starting the works. Bhogale recommended that hereafter before undertaking

any drastic step relating to conservation of any heritage structure, the ASCDCL or the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) should obtain 'specific' permission (project wise) from HCC and it should be timely."

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Conservation should be done responsibly: INTACH

Mukund Bhogale submitted a letter highlighting myriad objections. " In the case of Mehmood Darwaza (Gate), INTACH has observed violation in the national policy for conservation. The reconstruction of the demolished portion (arch and ceiling

roof) is proposed to be done with bricks altering the original design of the gate. The original material (stones and book type flat bricks) are proposed to be replaced with contemporary bricks. The design of the roof is being altered. All these

proposals are against the very basic internationally accepted principles of conservation which are also part of the conservation guidelines recommended by INTACH as well the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)," said the INTACH's

state convenor applauding the newspaper for highlighting the story on Mehmood Darwaza.

" In today's meeting, the HCC has instructed the ASCDCL's private consultant and team to have a meeting with our senior conservation architects, to study and review the proposed works of Mehmood Darwaza urgently. Later on, a joint report

will be prepared to implement the recommendations so that there is no violation in the conservation of the above gate," said Mukund Bhogale.