LG takes stock of restoration work at Mehrauli Archaeological Park, Sanjay Van

Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena on Saturday visited the Mehrauli Archaeological Park and Sanjay Van to take stock of the restoration work being undertaken at the sites, officials said.

Saxena also visited King Prithviraj Chauhan’s Qila Rai Pithora and expressed “grave disappointment at its decrepit state due to neglect by authorities,” they said.

The restoration work at Mehrauli Archaeological Park and Sanjay Van is being done by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in cooperation with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), they said. The work at these two locations had started following a visit by Saxena after assuming charge as the Lt Governor last year, a senior official of the Raj Niwas said.

“It was his fourth visit today to the Mehrauli Archaeological Park where restoration works of the Tomb of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban, Metcalfe’s Lodge (Dil Khusha Mohammad Quli Khan’s Tomb), Jamali-Kamali Mosque and Rajaon ki Baoli, have been underway after the LG visited the site twice in February this year, followed by a review visit in June last,” he said. “While work on the other projects at these locations was in different stages of execution, Rajaon ki Baoli, which was filled up to its arches with silt and garbage before work commenced in February this year, has been restored into a vibrant water body in record time,” the official said.

Similarly, work of restoring the Metcalfe Lodge Dil Khusha were also nearing completion and soon an “eco-friendly restaurant (by the end of August) will be operationalised in its vicinity. The place is expected to come up as a unique and major attraction at this historically iconic site,” he added.

He also instructed the DDA and the ASI to immediately take up work for restoration of Qila Rai Pithora, and asked for cleaning operations to be started and restoration designs to be put to him within the coming week, officials said. Saxena directed the DDA and the ASI to work in coordination, the senior official said. The L-G also oversaw the ongoing restoration of the 11th century Anang Tal Baoli, which had started in July last year, post his visit in June third week of 2022.