Dalmia adopts Red Fort; what next on Modi's lease-out list, asks Congress

The Congress took potshots at the BJP over leasing out of the Red Fort to Dalmia Bharat group

Business Standard reported on Friday that the 77-year-old Dalmia Bharat group had become the first corporate house in India to adopt a historical monument under a contract worth Rs 250 million (Rs 25 crore) for a period of five years. The Dalmia Bharat group beat IndiGo Airlines and GMR group to bag the contract under Modi government's ‘Adopt A Heritage’ scheme. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Dalmia Bharat Limited, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on April 9, even though the Ministry of Tourism went public with the deal on April 25, 2018.

The Congress on Saturday took potshots at the BJP for the move. The party ran a poll on Twitter, asking which monuments the saffron party would “lease out to a private entity” next. The Red Fort was built in the 17th century by the fifth Mughal ruler Shah Jahan as he moved his administrative capital from Agra to the present-day Delhi.

Under the ‘Adopt A Heritage’ scheme launched by the Indian government in September 2017, almost 100 monuments and heritage sites across India have been put up for adoption. These include the Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh, Kangra Fort in Himachal Pradesh, Buddhist Kaneri caves in Mumbai. Sites not maintained by the ASI, such as Chitkool village in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, Thembang in Arunachal Pradesh and the Sati Ghat at Haridwar, Uttarakhand have also been put up for adoption.

Not just the Congress party, several other prominent personalities across India, as well as Twitterati in general, reacted to this, and in most cases, the reaction was not very positive.

Here are some Twitter, Facebook reactions to the Modi government's 'Adopt a monument' scheme under which Dalmia Bharat Group has bagged Delhi's iconic Red Fort

Scottish historian, writer and a known expert on India's history, William Dalrymple, said: "There must be better ways of maintaining a nation's greatest monuments than by auctioning them off to a corporate house."

lrfan Habib, an Indian historian, welcomed the move but also warned ASI to keep a close watch on the development.

The tasks that have to be carried out by Dalmia Bharat group under the contract:

Dalmia group's 6-month target:

Provide drinking water kiosks

Street furniture-like benches

Shop signage

Dalmia group's 1-year target

Set up tactile maps

Upgrade toilets

Lighting along Red Fort pathways, bollards

Restoration work and landscaping

Building a 1,000-square-foot visitor facility centre, 

3-D projection mapping of the Red Fort’s interior and exterior

Battery-operated vehicles

Charging stations for such vehicles

A thematic cafeteria

Dalmia group's 2-year-target tasks include

Setting up exhibitions in cells under the Asad Burj

Virtual reality-based monument interpretation

Building night trails and structural illumination of the entire Red Fort