Delhi to map century-old sites

Delhi’s municipal government is starting a citywide exercise to identify and document working public buildings that are more than 100 years old. (hindustantimes.com) Municipal Corporation of Delhi officials said deputy commissioners in all 12 zones will compile details of century-old railway stations, schools and colleges for a heritage database. The Archaeological Survey of India asked urban local bodies in Delhi to carry out the exercise. (hindustantimes.com; theprint.in) Officials told PTI that hospitals and police stations are being left out because many have been rebuilt, expanded or substantially altered over time. The survey will focus on institutions that still operate from older structures. (thepatriot.in; hindustantimes.com) The move adds another layer to Delhi’s heritage system, which already includes notified monuments, protected precincts and separate lists maintained by different agencies. The Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation says Delhi has 767 notified heritage sites, plus a supplementary list of 554 sites proposed for notification. (srdc.delhi.gov.in) The New Delhi Municipal Council separately maintains its own Heritage Conservation Committee list, and Delhi’s planning bodies have long argued that scattered records make conservation harder. A Delhi Urban Art Commission heritage master plan called for a comprehensive map covering listed and notified heritage buildings across agencies. (ndmc.gov.in; duac.org.in) Municipal Corporation of Delhi has already been digitising heritage information on its own portal. In May 2024, The Times of India reported that the corporation had begun putting details of more than 1,300 heritage sites online, including photographs and geographic mapping. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com; heritage.mcd.gov.in) The buildings likely to be recorded in the new exercise include Old Delhi Railway Station, which opened in 1903, the Anglo-Arabic Senior Secondary School complex at Ajmeri Gate, and Tibbia College in Karol Bagh, which dates to 1916. Those sites are still in active use, which is the point of the survey. (thepatriot.in; dda.gov.in) Delhi Development Authority says the city’s built fabric spans multiple historical eras and that post-Independence development weakened the setting around many older sites. Its heritage page says the authority expanded its role beyond planning to identify and protect urban heritage not covered by monument laws alone. (dda.gov.in) The immediate output here is a database, not a restoration order. But once the city knows which century-old institutions are still standing and functioning, it has a clearer list of what can be protected, repaired or watched before another old building disappears into redevelopment. (hindustantimes.com; duac.org.in)