The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that they are preparing a standard operating procedure (SOP) for heritage sites under its control and geomapping of the notified heritage structures to facilitate more accurate identification and conservation from future encroachment and neglect.
This was informed by the civic agency in an affidavit filed on Monday ahead of a hearing before the top court on Wednesday on protection and preservation of heritage sites in Delhi. The document was filed by the corporation in a petition filed by Delhi resident Rajeev Suri, where the court is monitoring the preservation and upkeep of heritage structures and sites in Delhi managed and controlled by the ASI, the Delhi government, and civic agencies. Warning letters were also issued to the concerned Executive Engineer and Assistant Engineer of the same zone.
The development assumes significance as two months ago, the court had pulled up the agency for suppressing facts and misleading the court on the encroachment status of five Grade-1 heritage buildings in south Delhi’s Zamroodpur even as a report by HT showed them to be under heavy encroachment. Suri filed an application highlighting an HT report from August 10 depicting a sorry state of affairs in Zamroodpur’s heritage tombs, which are under heavy encroachment. He further informed the court that on April 10 this year, MCD filed a status report indicating that upon survey, one of the five tombs located in Delhi’s Zamroodpur conservation was in a satisfactory state, while encroachment and littering were noticed around three other structures. The present response filed by MCD’s Heritage Cell Additional Commissioner Sanjeev Mittal informed the court that pursuant to the court’s August 24 order, show cause notice was issued to the concerned Junior Engineer (Maintenance Division, South Zone) for initiating disciplinary proceedings for mentioning wrong facts in the inspection report submitted to the court.
The status report did not depict the clear picture and the HT report testified how facts were being suppressed before the court.
