Indian National Trust of Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) is doing the right thing
State govt, INTACH kick start the preservation drive of Kashmir’s Mughal gardens
Srinagar: In order to revive the pristine glory of the world renowned Mughal gardens of Kashmir valley, the state government has taken initiatives for undertaking preservation drive of the three prominent Mughal gardens of the valley.
The project, first of its kind, is a joint venture of the state’s floriculture department and Indian National Trust of Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). The tentative cost estimate of the over all project has been worked out to be Rs 16 crore.
The funding sources for the maiden project are the Union Ministry’s Tourism department, the state budget and 12th Finance Commission Scheme for restoration of Mughal gardens.
Director, Floriculture department of Kashmir, G S Naqash said that no restoration work of the Mughal gardens has been ever undertaken like this at a massive scale before since the construction of gardens several hundred years ago by the Mughals.
“In the absence of any big renovation work, the condition of these heritage gardens has deteriorated over the years,” Naqash added.
He asserted that the restoration of the Mughal gardens will help a great deal in not only preserving the heritage gardens but also in promoting tourism especially the inflow of foreign tourists to the valley.
“Foreign tourists usually prefer to see the old culture and heritage monuments so in my opinion this project will greatly help in enhancing the tourism here,” he opined.
He maintained that a project report for the renovation of the gardens was prepared after a survey was conducted by INTACH in collaboration with state’s Floriculture department and the Ministry of Tourism in 2005.
“Though we were allocated Rs 75 lakh for the renovation of Nishat Bagh soon after the survey of 2005, the work could not be started because of certain reasons. Later we approached the state government to get the permission for the long-pending project of the restoration of all the three gardens and finally started the work,” the director said.
The restoration work is presently going on in all the three Mughal gardens, viz, Nishat Bagh, Shalimar Bagh and Achabal garden. “The most interesting part of the entire work is the restoration of paper machie painting of the 400-year-old monument in Shalimar Bagh without demolishing the old structure, the first of its kind in the valley. Earlier, it was done in Rashtrapati Bhawan, the official residence of the president of India in New Delhi,” chairman of J&K Chapter of INTACH, Saleem Beigh pointed out.
Rather than opting for glitzy modern structures, efforts would be made to ensure the old layout of the heritage gardens under the project. “The main elements of the conservation plans supervised by INTACH include ensuring of authenticity of original layout, materials and historical fabric,” Saleem Beigh said.
According to Beigh, one of the main objectives of the project is to get the valley’s heritage gardens enlisted in the tentative list of the world heritage website. In this regard, a proposal is being prepared by INTACH which be later forwarded to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) through Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) with the assistance of the state government.
The J&K INTACH chairman hoped that depending on the availability of funds the project will be completed within three years, except Achabal garden where the restoration work will be hopefully completed this year.
Built in Mughal era, the Mughal gradens of Kashmir are a combination of beautiful artifacts, rare flowers, fountains, impressive lawns and terraces. (Kashmir Times)