Private company ‘adopts’ India’s Red Fort in heritage upgrade deal
Delhi’s Red Fort, named after its long walls of vermilion sandstone, has been the site of many historic events over its four centuries – insurrections, colonial destruction, coronations and Indian independence.
On May 23, the fort will make history again, as the first Indian monument to enter the custody of a corporation as part of the government’s controversial Adopt a Heritage project.
The Dalmia Bharat group, a conglomerate with major interests in cement, sugar and power generation, has paid 250 million rupees (Dh13.8m) to adopt the Red Fort for five years, allowing it to advertise all over the monument in exchange for maintaining and improving the site to attract more visitors.
Almost 100 Indian heritage sites are up for adoption on similar terms, including the Taj Mahal, the Sun Temple in Konark and the Sundarbans National Park in West Bengal. The Red Fort contract was announced on Thursday and companies have begun to bid for other sites.
“We will endeavour to make Red Fort a world-class monument in terms of amenities and experience,” said Sundeep Kumar, executive director of Dalmia Bharat. The company plans to “enhance the tourist experience”.
Historians and heritage professionals are divided over the merits of the Adopt a Heritage scheme but they agree on one aspect of the programme – India’s historic monuments desperately need rejuvenation.
About 2.5 million visitors, from India and overseas, visit the Red Fort every year only to find crumbling brickwork, vandalised walls, rubbish strewn in corners and inadequate toilets.
Unregulated touts and guides swarm near the entrance to the fort.
If this is the condition of Red Fort, one of India’s most prominent structures and the venue for the prime minister’s Independence Day speech every August 15, lesser monuments pose even greater concerns.
Mahesh Sharma, India’s Culture Minister, admitted to parliament last year that 24 historic structures across the country had disappeared altogether, having collapsed or been destroyed to make room for urban buildings.
Part of the problem is the lack of a budget for heritage conservation, said Shikha Jain, a Delhi architect and conservation consultant.
“There are no funds even for protected monuments,” Ms Jain said, referring to buildings regarded as crucial to India’s heritage and looked after by the Archaeological Survey of India.
“Unprotected monuments are, of course, very often razed to the ground.”
The government’s budgetary allocation to the culture ministry has grown, from about 13 billion rupees in 2011 to 25bn rupees in 2016.
But the 2016 figure, which is intended to cover cultural events, promotions and heritage conservation, still represented only 0.14 per cent of the government’s total planned expenditure for that year.
Dalmia Bharat’s contract with the government specifies the kind of upgrades that the archaeological survey failed to provide. Over the next five years, Red Fort will get new lighting systems, toilets and water kiosks.
The walls will be restored and the grounds landscaped. A new visitor centre and cafeteria are planned, and free Wi-Fi will be available throughout.
The fort will also be leased out for concerts and other activities.
Revenue from these events and from visitor admission tickets must be used for the fort’s upkeep.
The company’s advertising on banners, signboards and souvenirs must be done “in a discreet manner and tastefully”, the contract specifies.
Given the lack of government funding, Ms Jain said she welcomed the participation of “private initiative”, as long as it did not mar the integrity of the monument. The terms of the scheme stipulate that a government committee will monitor all renovations, improvements and events at the sites to better protect them.
But Tanmay Rastogi, a student at Delhi University and a heritage enthusiast who regularly joins guided walks through Old Delhi, home to the Red Fort, is worried that the scheme will allow the government to wash its hands of its cultural responsibilities.
“Honestly speaking, what is 250 million rupees over five years?” Mr Rastogi asked. “It’s a drop in the government budget.
“If a country like India can’t find that kind of money to maintain one of its most important buildings, we must have a sense of totally misplaced priorities.”
Handing the Red Fort over entirely to a company for five years is a loss of control, he said.
“However tasteful the company’s advertising, it will still spoil the experience of visiting a 17th-century monument. I’m not sure things like free Wi-Fi are worth that at all.”
We will endeavour to make Red Fort a world-class monument in terms of amenities and experience SUNDEEP KUMAR Executive director of Dalmia Bharat