Finally, Haji Ali dargah to get roof back after 10-month wait

The Maharashtra government has finally granted permission to carry out the repair work on the Haji Ali dargah, a heritage monument, which ha...

The Maharashtra government has finally granted permission to carry out the repair work on the Haji Ali dargah, a heritage monument, which has been roofless for some 10 months now.

Restoration work on the dargah began last year but came to a halt early this year when the local BMC ward office said the repair work needed to get clearance from the Mantralaya.

On November 26, The Indian Express reported the plight of the dargah, following which the Mantralaya finally began moving.

The DM Sukhtankar Committee cleared a proposal last year to carry out structural repairs on the dargah by Structwel Designers and Consultants Pvt Ltd on behalf of Haji Ali Trust. The BMC granted permission and work began in October 2001. But in January, the local ward office stopped work on grounds that permission was needed from the Mantralaya. By then, the slab covering the structure had been removed.

When contacted, Chetan Raikar, joint managing director of Structwel said: ‘‘The repair work has got the go-ahead now. We were waiting for Id to be over. We will start work in a few days.’’