The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has expressed its disappointment over the Bhadra pedestrian project by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to develop a plaza and a walkway in the Bhadra area.

It is an Rs 11.5-crore project taken up by the AMC

to redesign the Bhadra Chowk — one of the oldest areas in Ahmedabad — to a swank new plaza connecting Bhadra Fort to Teen Darwaza.

Shivanand Rao, the Superintendent Archaeologist of ASI, said the organisation is going to write a letter to the municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad, opposing the initiative that the civic body has taken without any discussion with the ASI.

“They are supposed to contact us before starting any project. They cannot merely say that the ASI is supporting the AMC. They haven’t even spoken to us about the project. These people pick up any historical monument in the city and call it heritage development,” said Rao.

Debashish Nayak, Advisor in the Heritage Cell of AMC, said: “This is a heritage development project under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Renowned architect Utpal Sharma, who is also a faculty at the Centre of Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT), is doing the project for us and has more plans on designing and detailing of the project.”

CEPT was given the task of designing the project, which is said to be in the final stages of completion.

According to project details, AMC plans to set up concrete pavements on either sides of the road, provide adequate lighting, green plantation and other public utilities.

Rao said: “When I contacted the AMC, the engineers dismissed the query by saying the Heritage Department is taking care of it. They will approach the ASI soon”.

He added that the ASI should have been consulted before conceptualising the project, not after project proposals were already designed.

The project will also comprise of development around the Bhadra Fort and some restoration activities in the fort. The AMC claims to develop the fort along with the pedestrian project.

Rao rubbished the claim, saying: “We are already renovating the Bhadra Fort. We do not need to depend on AMC to restore our monuments. Why do they need to renovate that? And if they claim to have signed any MoUs for developing

heritage monuments, then the concerned authorities should have been informed before doing that. Where was the consultation?”