It may not be as impressive as the Great Wall of China but the once-imposing 14th century wall that gave the Walled City its name, is just crumbling into a heap of bricks, courtesy vandals as well as neglect.Built by the legendary King Sultan Ahmed Shah in 1417, to protect the settlements inside from enemy attack, the wall that surrounded areas like Khanpur, Shahpur, Dariapur, Sarangpur upto Karanj for centuries now exists only at a couple of places.The most visible portion is a 2-km-long stretch at Khanpur from Hotel Cama to Shahpur Darwaja. This stretch may have survived the ravages of time, but development has taken its toll. Besides being plastered with advertisements and graffiti, the lower portion of the wall is used to dry cow dung. It also doubles up as a toilet for the slum-dwellers nearby who use it to relieve themselves.Sometime ago, a portion of the wall near Rifle Club had collapsed. Residents living in a slum nearby say that some people were trying to hammer in nails to hang an advertisement board when the wall collapsed. Nobody has bothered to take up repairs of the collapsed wall till now.The Public Works Department has also contributed to the defacement by building a shed along the wall and using it to burn tar. Smoke from the burning of the tar has blackened the wall.Despite its historical importance, nothing is being done to conserve this part of the city’s heritage. Officials of the Archaeological Survey of India and the State Archaeology Department say it doesn’t fall under their purview while the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation isn’t doing much to protect it either. In fact, City Mayor Himmatsinh Patel shrugged off the civic body’s responsibility. ‘‘Restoring the fortress wall is the job of the Archaeology Department and not the AMC,’’ said the Mayor.However, Heritage Advisor to the AMC Debashish Nayak admitted that the wall does fall under the AMC’s purview. ‘‘The problem is that the fortress wall does not fall under either the ASI or the Archaeology Department’s purview. The Estate Department of the AMC does take up restoration jobs and may take up the wall repairs also.’’Till the end of the 19th century, Ahmedabad remained an irregular semi-circular city defined by these fort walls. This wall, 10 km in circumference and 50 feet high, had 139 bastions and 12 gates which were linked by internal roads to Manek Chowk, the central commercial area of the city. At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the wall was pulled down to facilitate the city’s development.‘‘Heritage is the first casualty to development and in the case of Ahmedabad, this is exactly what has happened,’’ said Lalit Kumar, in-charge of the LD Institute of Indology.‘‘The fortress wall is a symbol of the city’s heritage. It is something Amdavadis should feel proud of, something they can identify with. But before that can happen, Amdavadis need to be made aware of the heritage,’’ said Kumar.Other experts, including Kumar, have made suggestions regarding conservation of the wall. ‘‘The wall can be restored and tourists can be taken along this stretch,’’ says Lalit Kumar.Around three years ago, a voluntary association of architects and those associated with conservation work came together to protect the heritage of the city. As part of this exercise, Prof V. Vasavda, formerly with the Centre for Environment Planning and Technology and an architect, had prepared a plan to protect the fortress wall and forwarded the report to Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. But the AMC did nothing, simply letting this part of the city’s heritage crumble into non-existence.
