Issues have been plaguing the restoration work since then, and even before. During the shoot of the Bollywood flick 'Veer', one of the walls of the fort gave way. After the report was carried by the local press, Chief Justice G.S. Saraf and Justice Ashok Parihar took suo moto notice and a case was registered. The bench stayed all commercial activities in the fort through an order dated August 17, 2009, and admitted the litigation. On October 13, 2009, a bench headed by Chief Justice Jagdish Bhalla and Justice Manishwar Nath Bhandari, in its order, stated that Amer Fort is a tourist destination and activities related to tourism and its promotion will be the only activities that will be allowed in and around it.
A cursory look by our team at the restoration and preservation work taken up in the last six months allowed us to see the issues the Fort suffers. While parts of the fort that are in dire straits have been overlooked (perhaps due to prioritisation), sections that have been restored appear in relatively good condition. But the iconic Sheesh Mahal, that has attracted hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists every year, still has deep developed cracks. Some tour guides, who know the ins and outs of the structure, claimed that the cracks are because of the preservation and restoration work overlooking the structural design.
Officials have been aware of these cracks since a long time, and admitted so when a local daily broke the story. The government has constituted a team of experts to look into the matter. The team has completed its investigation and will present the report mentioning the reason behind the cracks and would suggest ways to prevent further corrosion of Sheesh Mahal. The Management Authority, in the meanwhile, has also focussed on created a new version of the Sheesh Mahal over the Shilamata Mandir complex. This part of the fort was previously mostly closed. The Authority renovated it and christened it the New Sheesh Mahal and signed a contract with a restaurant chain to open an outlet there. It is expected this would bring in more tourist revenues.
All said, it is true that there are aspects that need to be looked into more critically, and these are related to the aesthetic dimensions of the Fort, which in some cases seem to have been ignored – for example, the new façade (windows especially) look extremely out of place given the historical context of the Fort. The high court, on its part, had ordered a stay on restoration work that ignores the aesthetics of Amer Fort.
A cursory look by our team at the restoration and preservation work taken up in the last six months allowed us to see the issues the Fort suffers. While parts of the fort that are in dire straits have been overlooked (perhaps due to prioritisation), sections that have been restored appear in relatively good condition. But the iconic Sheesh Mahal, that has attracted hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists every year, still has deep developed cracks. Some tour guides, who know the ins and outs of the structure, claimed that the cracks are because of the preservation and restoration work overlooking the structural design.
Officials have been aware of these cracks since a long time, and admitted so when a local daily broke the story. The government has constituted a team of experts to look into the matter. The team has completed its investigation and will present the report mentioning the reason behind the cracks and would suggest ways to prevent further corrosion of Sheesh Mahal. The Management Authority, in the meanwhile, has also focussed on created a new version of the Sheesh Mahal over the Shilamata Mandir complex. This part of the fort was previously mostly closed. The Authority renovated it and christened it the New Sheesh Mahal and signed a contract with a restaurant chain to open an outlet there. It is expected this would bring in more tourist revenues.
All said, it is true that there are aspects that need to be looked into more critically, and these are related to the aesthetic dimensions of the Fort, which in some cases seem to have been ignored – for example, the new façade (windows especially) look extremely out of place given the historical context of the Fort. The high court, on its part, had ordered a stay on restoration work that ignores the aesthetics of Amer Fort.
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