A year after the Public Works Department (PWD) revamped the Parivartan Chowk in Hazratganj at a cost of over Rs 1 crore, the site is all set to see fresh constructions, even as the department (PWD) prefers to call it “repairs on previous year’s constructions”. The costs involved in the latest venture — Rs 39 lakh.

The PWD plans to re-lay portions of the floor with Chunar stone, replacing the Bansi Pahadpur stone used last year.

In addition to the re-shaping of stones in boundary walls, more space inside the Chowk will now be dedicated to plantation.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has, meanwhile, served a notice to the PWD and sought to register an FIR against them, for carrying out construction work in a zone marked as “prohibited” according to the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act. The area is in close proximity to the mausoleums of Nawab Mushir Zadi and Nawab Saadat Ali Khan, near Begum Hazrat Mahal Park.

Superintending Archaeologist I D Dwivedi said: “The ASI has written to the police, asking them to lodge an FIR against the development agency.”

ASI’s objections with the Parivartan Chowk are as old as the Chowk, which was built in 1995. Metal statues of B R Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, Narain Guru and Chattrapati Shauji Maharaj had been erected at the four corners of the Chowk while a white marble statue of Gautam Buddha was installed at the centre.

Explaining the reasons for the new constructions, a PWD official said; “Last year, quality was not up to the mark as the work was completed in a hurry. The reason: A PIL had then been filed challenging the construction being carried out even after the ASI had served a notice against it.”

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