By Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net,
Lucknow: Rumi Gate, the gateway to Lucknow and synonymous with the city of nawabs, is gasping for fresh lease of life. Several cracks have made the 60 feet tall gate vulnerable to damage. A protected monument by the Archaeological Survey of India, Rumi Gate is what Charminar is to Hyderabad and Gateway of India to Mumbai. The new cracks which have appeared recently, could even become threat to the identity of the gate. Some parts of the gates have cracked at such places that anytime some pieces could fall on the road injuring the denizens.
From the last 13 years, the district administration has failed in enforcing traffic diversions along the road passing through the gate. As the Imam of the Teele Wali Masjid, Maulana Syed Shah Fazlur Rahman Waizi Nadvi, opposed the administration’s plans to divert the traffic on the road behind the Masjid which could become threat to the Masjid’s structure as a result the district administration was left with no option.
Additional District Magistrate (ADM-West), OP Pathak said: “We are working on the issue and will be holding meeting with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for deciding the schedule. Talks for the repair of the road behind Teele wali Masjid, are also going on and very soon the work on the Rumi gate will begin.”
Princess Farhana Maliki, whose father, as well as mother were the descendants of the rulers of Awadh, informed that in the year in 1997-98, crack appeared which later widened. Following it, they staged demonstration in the year 2005 where they blocked the road and didn’t allow any of the vehicle to pass under the gate as a result government at time announced ban on heavy vehicles.
Several times it has been seen that heavy vehicles pass through the gate and the policemen sitting on the crossings, don’t even think of stopping them. If any heavy vehicle passes through the gate, there are vibrations which affect the structure.
It is the need of hour to conserve the 60 feet high monument which was built as a part of the Imambara complex during the reign of Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula. Several meetings have been conducted in this regard but still the work has not commenced yet.