The district administration officials stopped work and seized earthmovers hired by a temple committee as it was destroying the Karez heritage site in Naubad on Tuesday. Acting on a tip-off, a team of officials led by Tahsildar Jagannath Reddy and those from the Departments of Forest and Mining, inspected the work of cutting trees and levelling hillocks on a portion of the Manjra plateau. They seized equipment and filed cases against workers and persons who had ordered the work.
Deputy Commissioner Anurag Tewari said Karez, the medieval underground aquaducts, had to be protected.
