One of the gates in Teen Mohara gate at Shahjahanabad which had developed cracks and was shut has now been opened for the commuters without the restoration work. Three boulders in the gate have fallen on ground and earlier it was closed as there was a threat that such boulders will fall on commuters.
The restoration work could not be done because the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC), state archeology department, Bhopal smart city development corporation limited (BSCDCL) and the Madhya Pradesh state tourism development corporation are passing the buck.
On the other hand Shahjanhanabad police have tried to draw attention of authorities. However, none of their letters was answered by the departments concerned. When Free Press approached the authorities, they expressed ignorance on the issue. Shahjahanabad city superintendent of police (CSP) Nagendra Pateriya claimed the gate is shut as there are threats that boulders may fall from it as it is over a century old. Few of the boulders have already fallen from it but no one was hurt, he says.
I have written letters to the state archeology department but no answer was receoved from them hence we have put barricades to stop the commuters but it is not a solution he says. State archeology department says that the gate is owned by the BMC and hence they will restore it. However, BMC too recused itself of having any role in the work and said that either MPSTDC or archeology department will have to do the work. MPSTDC also denied it and shifted the onus on BSCDCL, which further denied its role in the work.
The MPSTDC is carrying out the restoration work of Taj Mahal, but the Teen Mohara gate which lies in the vicinity is not being restored by it. Ranveer Singh, additional commissioner in the BMC said that the work is to be done by archeology department and when the archeological officials denied their role, he got confused.
RC Yadav, archeology department official said that the gate is a property of the BMC and hence they should carry out the work or the MPSTDC is responsible for it. MPSTDC managing director Ilaiya T Raja said that the corporation is not carrying out the work there rather BSCDCL will work for the conservation work.
