Once magnificent havelis with ornate walls peeling off and shops squatting in grand Mughal-era courtyards, crumbling historic edifices in Old Delhi point to the neglect and the apathy that the Walled City has been subjected to.

According to the Delhi Urban Art Commission, the problems of the Walled City began with the vengeful destruction of the Mughal city by the colonial government following the Revolt of 1857.

The introduction of the railways soon thereafter further altered its historic urban fabric. The decision to locate New Delhi as a separate urban entity in 1911 put in motion another set of problems.

While the Masterplan of Delhi 2021 has identified this area as a ‘conservation zone’, hardly any effort has been made till date to give Old Delhi the much-needed facelift.

According to MCD spokesperson Deep Mathur, the civic body had submitted a list of heritage structures in Old Delhi to the state government for notification in 2005. It has not received any response, Mathur said.

“The MCD’s heritage society, constituted in 2004 with the MCD commissioner as its chairperson, had picked 775 heritage structures from the INTACH list that are not protected by either the ASI or the state government, but need to be conserved,” said MCD Chief Town Planner V K Bugga.

The then MCD Commissioner Rakesh Mehta had formed a sub-group under the MCD heritage society to analyse these requests and form a final list.

“As there were no by-laws at the time to protect these structures, the MCD framed the requisite by-laws in 2003. In 2005, the list of the 775 structures was presented before the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC), and then sent to the Delhi government for it to be notified,” Bugga said.

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