Purana Qila gets a facelift; boating stays suspended

Delhi’s iconic Purana Qila underwent a facelift after NBCC, in support with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), finished the refurbishment work.

The lake, a part of the moat around the fort, however, will not include boating facilities, which were once an attraction for thousands of tourists.It was an evening of nostalgia for Shamaila Abidi, to whom the re-opening reminded of her late father. She said, “As a child, my father used to bring me here for boating. It is exciting and at the same time a little disappointing as they still have kept the boating services suspended.’

Challenge for engineers

The structure of Purana Qila was ‘adopted’ by the NBCC, under the Ministry of Tourism’s ‘Adopt a Heritage’ scheme and the project cost — a total of ₹30 crore — was equally shared among the ASI and the NBCC, with the latter utilising its corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds.

While explaining the methodology used to revive the lake, NBCC’s chairman-cum-managing director A.K. Mittal said, “The muck had to be cleaned before we could start our work. Also, since the region lacks a source of spring water and the water table is very low, the biggest challenge for us was transporting clean water for this project for which we finally used trucks [tankers].”

Regarding the water-level maintenance, he said, “Apart from the natural rainwater which will be collected here, we have dug rainwater pits and will divert sewage-treated water to maintain the water level in the lake.”

Plastic lining

The restoration work of the fort has been done in accordance with IIT-Roorkee’s suggestions. Before, the impermeable plastic lining used at the bottom of the lake had become a topic of contention, to which the National Green Tribunal recently gave its final nod, rejecting the claim that the project undertaken would damage the environment.

Any new idea is often criticised because of the natural fear, but I request everyone to keep patience and automatically they will understand the benefits attached to this project.

Mr. Mittal told The Hindu.