Encroachment,budget in way of Tughlaqabad restoration

“Inside the second fort,nearly 116 bigha of land is lal dora and 2,667 bigha is unauthorised colonies. Removing this encroachment will be a difficult and time consuming process,so we have begun work on the outer fortifications,” an ASI official working on the project told Newsline. “The city stood on DDA land; it was transferred to the ASI in 1995. The encroachment has been there since then,” he said. But a court case is on regarding the encroachment after demolitions were carried out in 2001. The Tughlaqabad Village is situated right within the outer fortifications and has posed a problem for the ASI.

An amount of Rs 2.25 crore has been sanctioned for the project. But officials working on the project consider this inadequate,as the estimate did not take into account several expenditures like the need to clear jungles in large portions of the fort.

A large part of the main fort is in fairly good condition but the outer fortifications that lead towards Badarpur are decaying. The ASI will restore nine bastions and the adjoining wall over the next year. “Lime,brick powder and Badarpur sand is being used to strengthen the outer walls and to restore the bastions. We are also using ashlar stone on the exterior,” the official said.

Over 120 workers have been engaged in the project to restore the entire 1190m stretch of the outer wall of the fort. Landscaping and illumination of the area is also being planned once the restoration work is completed. A DDA park is also being developed near the fort.

The Tughlaqabad Fort was built with high battlements,slanting walls,double-storey bastions,gigantic towers,palaces,mosques and audience halls. There are a number of monuments within the precincts of this fort. It lost its glory after Ghiyasuddin’s death as the fort faced an acute water shortage; the Capital was shifted south of the fort to Adilabad by Ghiyasuddin’s successor Mohammad Bin Tughlaq.