LI Network
Published on: 28 April 2023 at 14:53 IST
In Delhi’s Jal Vihar, a 15th Century palace has reportedly been demolished to construct a luxurious bungalow.
The Vigilance Department of the Delhi government has issued a notice to former Jal Board chief Udit Prakash Rai, whose family currently occupies the bungalow.
He has been accused of being involved in the demolition of the palace and allegedly assigning the bungalow to himself when it was constructed.
The palace was the only surviving monument from the Khizrabad city built by Khizr Khan of the Sayyid dynasty during the Pathan period and was under the Delhi Jal Board’s jurisdiction.
Despite being served with eviction notices, Rai’s family is still residing in the bungalow. Rai, who is currently posted in Mizoram, has two weeks to respond to the Vigilance notice.
The destruction of a 15th-century palace in Delhi to build a bungalow for a former Jal Board chief has sparked outrage from political parties and citizens.
The monument, which was to be handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India by the Jal Board, went missing during a joint inspection in January, according to a notice issued by the Vigilance Department.
The Archaeological Survey had requested the handover of the palace in January 2021, but it did not occur, with officials alleging that Udit Prakash Rai, the former Jal Board chief, had blocked the handover.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra took to Twitter to call for action by the Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, G Kishan Reddy, and asked if the Archaeological Survey and Ministry of Culture were “napping yet again.”