AJEET
COUR’S LETTER TO HON’BLE MINISTER Ms. AMBIKA SONI
February 11, 2006
My dear Hon’ble Minister Ms. Soni,
Since I and my writer colleagues in our cultural
institution, Academy of Fine Arts and Literature and its sister organization
Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature, have been working for the last 30
years to save Delhi’s precious heritage, and also out of Delhi sometimes, I
welcome you to the Ministry of Culture where you can make a profound policy for
saving our irreplaceable cultural heritage, and also order ASI to save our
historical heritage.
Here are a few of the glaring examples.
There are many more, which we can share next time.
VANDALISATION OF
HERITAGE
MONUMENTS
IN NUTSHELL
1. VANDALISATION AROUND
SIRI FORT
Blatant vandalization of the
Khilji period remains of Siri Fort Wall, the only place in the world where
Mongols were defeated.
In 2002, in response to a PIL
the High Court ordered ASI to give their verdict about the two structures
which violated the ASI protected heritage
1. Illegal Encroachments-Structures of Asiad Tower Banquets, an
illegal transaction done by DDA itself, against which CBI enquiry is
going on. and DDA Officers Club, which was built on a historical mound,
in the close vicinity of Siri Fort Locality.
2. A group of right minded citizens, including us, and renowned
historians like Prof. Refaqat Ali Khan and Prof. Kapil Kumar set on dharnas,
reported to the ASI and to the police, but DDA behaves like and is, the biggest
land mafia of Delhi, so they went ahead to build there palatial building, just
behind the Siri Fort Auditorium, and outside the gates of Siri Fort Sports
Club.
Early morning, every day we used to go and collect precious
remnants from the rubble of the foundation-digging. Here are the pictures :
Ancient colours still shining gloriously.
Breathtaking Colours and Designs !
One of these pieces is from a Chinese Pot.
Prof. Kapil Kumar of IGNOU collected Gunnybags-Full
of these rare Pottery pieces,
most of which can be traced back to 8th
century – according to
anthropologists and historians who have seen
them
Due to the Orders of the Court,
The ASI ordered to DEMOLISH BOTH.
REGARDING 1
The Asiad Tower Banquets
is a Public Park, with Siri Fort wall on one side and Bulbul Ki Masjid
as the other, BOTH ASI PROTECTED MONUMENTS.
A part of this Park, with a
huge Water Tank in the middle, has been illegally leased out by DDA. And the
rest of the sprawling park has been illegally encroached upon by unscrupulous,
millionaire banquet organiser Mr. Mahesh Kapoor.
THE MOST AMAZING PART OF THE
STORY IS THAT THE TOWER RESTAURANT IS AT THE TOP OF THE WATER TANK OF
ASIAD VILLAGE. THE TANK STANDS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARK.
THIS PARK AND TOWER ORIGINATED
IN THE VISION OF SHREE SANJAY GANDHI WHO NAMED THE PARK AS ‘PARK OF
NATIONS’, AND ON TOP OF THE HUGE WATER TANK HE ASKED THE BUILDERS TO BUILD A
ROUND VIEWING GALLERY.
DDA converted the viewing gallery into a restaurant.
Nobody bothered because it was also meant for the people who used the Public
Park.
But to sell off the Public Park, or at least a part of
it, and also the Water Tank of Asiad Village, is beyond anybody’s wildest
imagination !
Only DDA could churn out such a
monstrous idea !
The DDA and the millionaire
land mafia have managed to butcher his dream.
WE OWE IT TO HIS MEMORY THAT
HIS ORIGINAL VISION BE RESTORED.
SECONDLY,
And this needs your urgent
intervention, dear Minister of Culture, because in the process they (the DDA
which leased out the Tower and the land, and the people who bought it) have
encroached upon two most important PROTECTED MONUMENTS :
a) SIRI FORT
WALL, where Mongols were defeated for the first time anywhere in the world.
b) BULBUL KI
MASJID : a place in Prayers, which the encroachment of Asiad Tower people
are using as a ‘bar’. A great shame and great hurt for all secular minded
people.Our
protests don’t reach deaf ears. The
whole encroached Public Park is guarded by gun-toting security.
The legal facts in nutshell
are, which elaborate the legal position of ASIAD TOWER BANQUETS :
According to clause XV
of the Lease Deed :
·
The thirty-year lease is applicable only to the
Tower Restaurant, Fountains, and the land under the A.C. Plants and
LPG Gas Store, but can be cancelled by DDA.
·
Plus, the 2000 sq. yards of land around the Tower is ON
ANNUAL LEASE : for making a kitchen and public facility.
·
Since no ‘public’ is allowed in the so-called facilities, if
any, are the property of the encroacher !
THE REMEDY, PERHAPS, IS :
The Lieutenant Governor of
Delhi, as Chairman of DDA, can PLEASE be advised to take immediate steps
regarding this : an illegal transaction by DDA under the previous regime,
which has managed to vandalized two ASI Protected Monuments :
(a) The DDA should immediately cancel the lease of Asiad/ Jhankar
Banquets, because the provision of cancellation is included in the Lease
Deed.
(b) The Public Park should be restored to its original Owners : THE
PUBLIC. And the Water Tank to the ASIAD SOCIETY.
(c) ANNUAL LEASE OF 2000 Sq. YARDS SHOULD NOT BE RENEWED FOR USING
THE PUBLIC PARK BY THE ASIAD TOWER BANQUETS.
(d) Rest of the Park, sprawling over 8-10 acres, encroaching upon the ASI
PROTECTED SIRI FORT WALL ON ONE SIDE, AND BULBUL KI MASJID ON
THE OTHER, HAS BEEN ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED, ILLEGAL STRUCTURES HAVE
BEEN CONSTRUCTED FOR SIX MARRIAGES EVERY NIGHT, should be
taken over immediately, and restored as a Public Park.
(e) SIRI FORT WALL and BULBUL KI MASJID should be
given protection by ASI
(f) And this case of massive corruption should be thoroughly
investigated by CBI. This investigation is absolutely unavoidable
if we need a healthy polity in a healthy civil society. CBI enquiry
was ordered by the previous Minister Mr. Jagmohan. Media reported it too.
Nobody knows what happened to it.
REGARDING 2
DDA
OFFICERS CLUB HAS BEEN HANDED OVER TO ASI.
ASI SHOULD PROCEED TO SET UP A HERITAGE MUSEUM IN THE
BUILDING, FOR WHICH ALL THE 12th AND 13th CENTURY RARE
POTTERY PIECES, COLLECTED BY PROF. KAPIL KUMAR. DURING DIGGING UP OF FOUNDATIONS
OF THE CLUB, INSPITE OF ASI RESTRICTIONS, HAVE BEEN OFFERED BY HIM IN A WRITTEN
LETTER TO MR. JAGMOHAN, THE PREVIOUS MINISTER.
DURING ASI’s OWN EXCAVATION OF THE AREA OVER 2-3 MONTHS, 2 YEARS
BACK, LOT OF ANCIENT COINS AND OTHER ARTEFACTS WERE COLLECTED.
ALL THESE, AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF MONUMENTS CAN MAKE THE FIRST-EVER HERITAGE
MUSEUM OF DELHI.
AND THIS SHOULD BE DONE BY ASI ONLY. I HEARD THE RUMOUR THAT DDA IS
TRYING TO GET HOLD OF IT AGAIN. ASI SHOULD NOT LET IT GO.
THIS WILL BE THE FIRST-EVER HERITAGE MUSEUM, AND IT IS ONLY
ASI WHO KNOWS WHAT IS HERITAGE AND HOW IT SHOULD BE PRESERVED.
2.
MOTH KI MASJID :
A rare structure of amazing architectural excellence, behind NDSE II,
built with exquisitely coloured stones, dream-like arches, carved ‘jaalis’,
dreamy balconies, was lying in total neglect, when I first discovered it about
30 years back.
Inspite of my hundreds of requests, and personal meetings with Hon’ble
Mr. Buta Singh, the then Minister of Urban Development, huge multi-storeyed
structures kept coming up around it.
Today it is lying helplessly sandwiched among huge hotels, multi-storeyed
commercial complexes.
And builders are using the Masjid itself as a god own for their
building materials. Can we save it ?
3. KHIRKI MASJID :
It was a very beautiful structure in Khirki Village.
Much before the DDA started building its flats in Saket, much before
the Press Enclave came up, we took all our visitors to see the exquisite Turkish
arches and softly rounded tombs of this mosque.
We had to pass through small village lanes, surrounded with innocent
rural houses.
Where has all the innocence gone ?
Today it is surrounded by ugly structures. One of the restaurants
shares its walls and even balconies.
Can you please ask ASI to save it ?
4. DARYA KHAN TOMB :
I succeeded only once : when I was able to save DARYA KHAN TOMB
5.
BAIJ NATH TEMPLES :
On way
to Rani Khet, there is a cluster of 8th – 9th century
temples : BAIJ NATH TEMPLES. They
used to be so serene, sitting like monks on the banks of a singing river.
Last
summer both me and my daughter felt appalled to find them almost in ruins,
because the village had pounced on them, and a very ugly structure with a blue
tin roof, in the middle of red-stoned temples made us cry ! It
was the living quarter of the ASI officer posted there.
He had
built it in the middle of the temples, killing all their serenity and
beauty, and yet failing to save them from the village that had caught them in
its crocodile jaws.
We
were told the ‘Tourism Minister was supposed to be in Rani Khet next day.
We
went back to Rani Khet, spent a night there, and met the Minister the next day.
His
blatant reply was, “Why should I annoy the villagers ? They are my votes.
Anyway, protection of these temples is under ASI. They should protect them.
I
reported the matter to ASI
Nothing has been done so far.
THERE ARE
INNUMERABLE OTHER HERITAGE VIOLATIONS, AGAINST WHICH I HAVE BEEN FIGHTING FOR THE LAST
MANY YEARS.
TODAY, I FEEL I AM NOT ALONE. TOGETHER WE SHALL DEFINITELY
BE ABLE TO MAKE SOME DIFFERENCE.
I am sure you will let me know the remedial measures you
will definitely initiate.
With warmest regards,
AJEET COUR
Hon’ble SMT. AMBIKA SONI
Minister of Culture
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Masjid Moth
AJEET
COUR’S LETTER TO HON’BLE MINISTER Mr. JAGMOHAN
January 31, 2000
My dear Jagmohan jee,
It is a story of DDA acting as the biggest land mafia in the
city.
It is the story of how
this city is being systematically destroyed by those who were supposed to model
it and mould it as a better city : the DDA, which is on a mad spree to sell off
the green lungs of the city, to slaughter trees, to create noise pollution which
is beyond human toleration.
1. Around three years back, or
more, the DDA decided to give the round revolving restaurant on lease, which was
a part of the Siri Fort Auditorium Complex.
2.
The people who were negotiating for
the lease greedily eyed about four acres of lush green lawns which were lying
in between and around the sprawling Siri Fort Auditorium Complex, which houses
offices of various Public Sector Undertakings also, including the BHEL, besides
the Tower Restaurant.
3.
The usual magic wand of
mountain-high bribes did work wonders. Crores of rupees changed hands. And the
DDA gave on 30-year-long lease these four acres of lush green, fully-developed
lawns alongwith the revolving restaurant, for a song.
4.
The DDA rate for Institutional land
in this area is one crore twenty lakhs per acre. The commercial rates would be
running close to fifty crores per acre. The actual figures can be obtained by
verifying on what rates the land was given to Ansal Plaza which is in the
neighbourhood.
5.
Let me reiterate that the 4.7 acres
of fully-developed land and the revolving restaurant were given absolutely and
clearly for commercial purposes. Nobody in the DDA or the people who took the
land tried to hide this fact. The land was clearly given to be used as banquet
halls, for marriages of billionaires, and the restaurant was evidently to be
used as a restaurant.
6.
These 4.7 acres of beautiful,
fully developed land and the revolving restaurant, in the posh South Delhi area,
were given for a mere 2.18 crores, for 30-long-years. For commercial purpose.
7.
The Residents Welfare Association
of Asiad Village tried to argue with all the authorities in the DDA that
converting the green lungs of the area into the loudest of the loud commercial
place would be a disaster for the surrounding residential colonies, particularly
for the Asiad Village, part of Hauz Khas near the Khel Gaon Marg, part of
Gulmohar Park, and the peaceful Siri Fort Institutional Area.
One of the concerned officers who was dealing
with the case gleefully divulged to his friends later on, when he was no longer
with the DDA, that the Lady President of the Asiad Village Residents Welfare
Association tried to emphasise her case by saying that the great scientist Abdul
Kalam also lives in the area and was very much disturbed by the DDA action, that
is why the DDA wanted to go ahead and tell everybody that they are the bosses,
that they own the land, and who is this Abdul Kalam anyway !
8.
The Asiad Village Residents Welfare
Association sat on a ‘dharna’, with luminaries like Sushma Swaraj sitting with
them in the ‘dharna’, and even went to the Court to get this allotment
cancelled. But as occasionally happens with all common causes, they couldn’t
probably pursue the case with the vigour with which DDA was trying to defend it,
because so many people in the DDA, and surrounding DDA, and in the ‘upper
floors’ of DDA had gulped down crores of rupees.
9.
Moreover, the DDA told the Court
that it was because of their huge financial crunch, and because the DDA was in
deep red that they had to ‘sell off’ the land and restaurant in question.
10.
If the argument of financial crunch
was true, how was it that the same DDA, during the same period of time, was
building a more-than-huge club for DDA Officers in the same area? At very
conservative estimate, it must have cost them over Rs. 5 crores. When it was
being built, all of us presumed that it was probably a large institution, or
South Campus of Delhi University or some other University.
11.
For building this huge DDA
Officers Club they butchered hundreds of very old trees. Every day we saw
corpses of slaughtered trees being carried out on huge trucks.
12.
When the buildings in the Siri Fort
Institutional Area, including our Academy, started coming up in the mid-80s,
there was a huge green ocean of quivering leaves on innumerable tree-tops all
around, with hundreds of peacocks cooing away and dancing around. All those
trees have been mercilessly slaughtered by DDA for making its palatial Club.
Where have all the peacocks gone ? Who has dried
up the green ocean ? None other but the DDA.
13. The Bombay Tower / Asiad Tower Banquet
people have created havoc in the area by shattering the peaceful atmosphere of
the vicinity to loud, nerve-rattling explosions of vulgar music night after
night, continuing till the wee hours of the morning. None of the thousands of complaints to the local
police has any affect. And you know why.
Only once, when Ms Kiran Bedi was working with the Lt. Governor of
Delhi, she took notice of our complaints, sent a couple of police officers
incognito in the area for three or four nights, and as a result of their
extremely damaging report regarding the colossal disregard of the High Court
orders which does not allow the use of loudspeakers after 10 at night,
these banquet people were prosecuted and their loud music systems were
confiscated. But then Ms Kiran Bedi was transferred, and all the noise, all
their heaps of garbage, all the nuisance came back with a vengeance.
14.
The DDA Officers Club in the
vicinity is also being used for great marriage receptions fit for Kings and
Queens. Huge gates and shamyanas, from the Gate of Siri Fort Auditorium itself,
throughout the road leading to the Club come up, and the Club becomes a cauldron
of loud music boiling over the edges of not only the Club but of the whole area,
of the hard drinks flowing freely, of huge parties – the display of vulgar
wealth the source of which is always a matter of amazement for a simpleton like
me, because all these officers are after all ‘salaried government servants’.
15.
We are told by reliable sources
that Bombay Tower/Asiad Tower Banquet people don’t have any bar licence, but
hard liquor flows like a river every night in their premises. Beena Ramani’s
‘Tamarind Court’ shook Delhi from its slumber towards unhindered and vulgar
drinking parties. But no authorities in Delhi have apparently learnt a lesson
from the shocking incident by resorting to check all such joints and ban them.
The Bombay Tower/Asiad Tower is Tamarind Court multiplied by a thousand, and
unlike Tamarind Court which had drinking parties once a week, the Asiad
Tower/Bombay Tower has loud and vulgar drinking parties every single night of
the week, every single week of the month, and every single month of the year.
16.
During the Kargil War, during the
mind-bogglingly tragic Orissa cyclone, during the hijacking of our plane, with
the whole country watching the tragedies with abated breath, we thought people
would be a little subdued and a little ashamed of such vulgar display of wealth
and artificial pleasures. Alas, no ! Life goes on in its usual loud, banging,
eating-drinking splendour in Bombay Tower/Asiad Tower/Jhankar every night. And
also in DDA Officers Club.
17.
Right now the DDA is very quietly
but very efficiently clearing up 2-3 acres of land between the back wall of Siri
Fort Auditorium Complex and the DDA Officers Club, on the road which leads to
the DDA Sports Complex. We have strong apprehension that they are going to
allot this land also, again for a song, to the Asiad Tower /Bombay Tower/Jhankar
banquet people, so that they have another opening from the DDA Sports Complex
Road.I am sure you will not let this disaster happen.
If properly and meticulously investigated, this
horrible tale will unfold as one of the biggest land scams, with DDA emerging as
the biggest land mafia :
Let me request you to please :
1.
Just unearth the mystery of DDA
allotting 4.7 acres of prime land in the heart of South Delhi and a beautifully
built revolving restaurant for a mere 2.18 crores, on 30-year-long lease. How
was this huge property thrown away like a piece of crumb, the property which was
worth at least 2 hundred crores ?
2.
How could DDA, which is always in
the deep red, and which told the Court that they had sold off this 4.7 acres of
land and the revolving restaurant because of their financial crunch, spend
crores to build a palatial, sprawling DDA Officers Club?
3.
How can the salaried officers of
DDA afford princely marriages – with all the frills of pop singers, loud music
systems and amplifiers, huge shamianas and royal gates, royal feasts for
thousands of guests for the marriages of their sons and daughters ?The only remedy is
a)
to cancel the lease of the Bombay
Tower/Asiad Tower/ Jhankar Banquet people.
b)
to prosecute them for creating
noise pollution in the area, heaps of garbage, and destroying the peace of the
area.
c)
the building of the DDA Officers
Club should be sold off to a University Campus or to a charitable hospital or to
a school.
d)
the police in the area should be
ordered to clean their house as well and implement the Court Orders of not
allowing any banging noise of bomb-like crackers and loudspeakers beyond 10 at
night.
e)
even before 10, the Pollution
Control Board should be on the alert to check that the noise level from the
loudspeakers and marriage bands and bomb-like crackers does not exceed the
permitted limit of 50 decibles.
f)
please prevent the DDA for
allotting any more land to the Asiad Tower/Bombay Tower/Jhankar Banquet people.
As it is, enough damage has already been done which will have to be rectified at
the highest level, i.e. at your level.
g)
the concerned mafia in the DDA
should be investigated and prosecuted.
I have great hopes
from an absolutely honest, brilliantly intelligent, dynamic Minister with a
remarkable scholarly bent of mind.
I
am sure, positive and urgent action will be taken on this letter because I am
addressing it to a writer-scholar-Minister.
Shall I expect a word in response ?
With warmest regards.
Very sincerely yours,
AJEET COUR
Hon’ble Shri Jagmohan jee,
Minister for Works and Housing,
Government of India,
New Delhi.
HON’BLE
MINISTER Mr. JAGMOHAN’S REPLY
