New Delhi : A year and several frantic letters to the Prime Minister and senior Railways officials later, a plot of land surrounding the Nila Gumbad has been handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). With this, the Mughal-era monument abutting the World Heritage Site of Humayun’s Tomb will finally be integrated with the Tomb Complex.
Following a three-year long standoff between the ASI and Railways, the two bodies have finally resolved the issue of land transfer. Sources said that the move came after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intervened and sought a status report on the issue following newspaper reports and letters from ministers and conservationists seeking his intervention. […]
The ASI and Aga Khan Trust for Culture, which is working on the Humayun’s Tomb Complex as part of its urban renewal plan in the area, will now be able to integrate the Nila Gumbad with the Complex. The Mughal-era monument is said to be originally linked to the Humayun’s Tomb but was separated in the 1970s when a sewer line and a road cut through the plot. The integration, now, is expected to facilitate easy visitor access to the Nila Gumbad and also in re-develop the buffer zone of the World Heritage Site.
Ratish Nanda, Project Director, Aga Khan Trust for Culture, said, “Once the road layout is finalised, we will be able to carry out conservation and landscaping at Nila Gumbad aimed at making the monument accessible to the millions visiting Humayun’s Tomb. The patch of land on either side of monument that has been transferred will facilitate in restoring a part of the original charbagh.”
Ismailimail 