How long is four weeks in Delhi? For the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), it is eleven weeks and still counting. Almost three months after a storm knocked down the finial atop Humayun’s Tomb, the agencies are yet to reinstall it. On May 30, the finial —which has religious significance— was struck down by north western winds with a sustained speed of 92 kilometres per hour. It was Delhi’s worst storm in recent memory. It claimed nine lives and also crippled the power infrastructure.
The 442-year-old World Heritage Monument had earlier lost its finial in a storm in 1912. The ASI, which administers the monument, gave the AKTC, which is undertaking conservation work, a four-week restoration schedule— which should have been completed on June 27. However, there’s still no sign of the finial.
“The materials used in the finial were given for testing to agencies like the Indian Institute of Technology. The results were sent to the ASI on July 16. We are waiting for further instructions and we expect the finial to be restored in about two months,” Ratish Nanda, AKTC Project Director, told The Hindu .
The finial contained a pole of sal wood that had rotted under chemical action from nine brass plated copper utensils it supported. While the pole will be replaced with one made of a modern durable material, the damaged utensils need to be exact replicas of the original. The chemical composition and structure of the alloy and the engravings are being documented by the ASI.
ASI Director General Rakesh Tewari was unable to respond to queries from this paper as he was travelling. Sources claimed that the delay by both the AKTC and the ASI is unusual, given the earlier pace of work on the monument. Visitor footfall to the monument had fallen by 29.3 per cent in the previous financial year despite the ASI’s Delhi Circle spending almost three times its allotted budget.
