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| | INTACH out on a mission to restore gutted shrine | | We will try to save the existing structure: Saleem Beg | | SRINAGAR, June 27: Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) which has been entrusted with the responsibility of reconstruction of Dastgeer Sahib (RA) shrine started off its assessment and examination of structural damage of the shrine today which is expected to be completed within a week.
The Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) men have been instructed not to touch any part of the shrine structure especially the walls as they concluded their road cleaning operations today.
Convener, INTACH, Kashmir Chapter, Mohammad Saleem Beg has meanwhile emphasized on the need to save whatever part of the existing structure is left behind. INTACH is in possession of a digital map of the shrine which was made during its assessment of Dastgeer Sahib (RA) shrine in 2010.
“Our top most priority during assessment will be to retain the salvaged structures. There is absolutely no need to bring down the walls. We have to preserve every bit of the originality of the shrine,” Beg told Kashmir Times.
Official sources said that in a high level meeting under the supervision of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah attended by the Law Minister, Advisors to Chief Minister, and Chief secretary and INTACH officials, several renovation measures were discussed. These included fire control infrastructure, access control systems, technical intervention, evacuation planning and various other aspects.
One of the most important points which INTACH is understood to have suggested includes putting up a professional team which is available round the clock at the shrine especially for the adequate monitoring of infrastructure.
“Though, we have suggested introduction of state of the art fire extinguishing mechanism in all these heritage shrines, however it also needs to be borne in mind that we will require an efficient manpower to deal with such sophisticated infrastructure. Therefore, only requesting the upgradation of safety measures is not the solution. The government should consider hiring people for maintenance of the shrines,” Beg observed.
INTACH team has also castigated the poor management of the shrine which seems to have only focused on voice amplifiers and decoration lighting for last twenty years.
“None of the additional preventive measures seems to have been added up, which only depicts the sorry state of such shrines,” Beg added.
Meanwhile, the earlier inputs which came in regarding Chief Minister suggesting an overall remodeling of the shrine on the lines of its earlier model have been denounced by experts.
“Fire damage is different from structural damage. There may be no need to bring down the perfectly standing walls. Please try and preserve whatever authenticity is left of the shrine,” Saima Iqbal, working with INTACH has appealed.
Hence, while Beg and his team have a very sensitive job to do in the following week, all eyes will be set on the findings of the INTACH and how much possible is it for them to revive Dastgeer Sahib (RA) ‘s shrine to its original glory. |
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