Our city planning must preserve built-heritage
Why are articulate and talented planners and architects not consulted about “built heritage” in cities?
An article in these pages, ‘Trim the monuments list’ (August 6), takes one back to an issue highlighted in the report titled ‘Monuments of National Importance: An Urgent Need for Rationalisation’, published in January 2023, by the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Committee, which did not include any archaeologist or historian, but we assume at least some were consulted).
Half of the article is anecdotes surrounding the notorious General John Nicholson, of the East India Company, who captured Delhi in September 1857, died near Mori Gate, was buried there and commemorated with a statue. Why flog this dead rider? To draw attention to the anomalies in the listing of protected sites. Once a structure is designated as “protected”, it is impossible to remove their names from the list, even if (as with statues) they have migrated overseas (Edward VII’s to Canada, Nicholson’s to Ireland, and so on).
The authors are glad to report progress. In July 2024, Nicholson’s absent statue was, at long last, delisted. In March 2024, the Archaeological Survey of India daringly delisted 18 monuments “that have not been found despite years of effort”. They believe “the removal of several missing monuments can be expected soon” (perhaps meaning ‘the removal of the names of several missing monuments…’).
This is actually a relatively minor issue. The more significant one has to do with “monuments that are unworthy of being deemed of national importance”.
For years the ASI was criticised for having too few protected monuments, now it is criticised for having too many. Monuments which are small and/or anonymous must prepare for the worst. Kos minars are small, and there are ‘too many’ of them (37, too many for India to hold!). So they are on the hit list. The authors have forgotten the magic of Sher Shah’s Grand Trunk Road, the descriptions in Kim. Have you noticed how visitors to Lodi Garden stop at the entrance to look at the kos minar there? In recent months Delhi has seen a number of streets and public spaces being livened up with installations. Can’t a kos minar be integrated into cityscapes?
A specific structure that the committee sternly disapproved of is Chhoti Gumti on the bund road to Delhi’s Hauz Khas. All the people I spoke to found it attractive, tidied up and softly illuminated from the time of the Commonwealth Games of 2010 — a break on a long, straight road. Its fault: we don’t know the name of the person buried there! By the same argument, graveyards are also targets. The British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA) had been set up by Theon Wilkinson in 1977, who was born in India and was saddened to see the poor condition of the British cemeteries on a visit to the country in 1972. Would it not be good manners to bring them into the discussion? And to work out ways to preserve them as quiet green spaces, as is done in Britain.
Why are articulate and talented planners and architects not consulted about “built heritage” in cities? More and more Indians are travelling to many parts of the world. Surely they can be inspired to support or sponsor attractive public spaces where the present coexists in harmony with the past? The ministry of culture has a scheme called 'Monument Mitra'. The Dalmias are Friends of the Red Fort. It should be made possible for neighbourhoods or institutions to become 'friends' of smaller structures. The ASI might think of reinventing its image, and not be perceived only in terms of cumbersome prohibitions and controls. “Rationalisation” is a fashionable term now, whether for school textbooks or for architectural heritage. It is worth trying to figure out the real intent in each case.
Narayani Gupta is a historian of Delhi. The views expressed are personal
The author had originally written that the BACSA had been set up as a joint initiative by the British and Indian governments. However, BACSA was set up by Theon Wilkinson and is self-funded, independent of any government.
The author apologises for the error.