Steps taken to prevent water seepage at Qutub Minar base: Govt

The entire base of Qutub Minar has been made water-tight to ensure that water does not percolate into the foundation of the monument, Rajya Sabha was told today.
As per the survey carried out by Survey of India, Dehradun, the mean rate of annual change "in tilt is 3.5 seconds per year" with respect to its base centre.
In order to further prevent this negligible tilt, the entire base of Qutub Minar was "water-tightened" to prevent water percolating into the foundation, Minister of State for Culture Mahesh Sharma said in a written reply.
Water-tightening and 'pointing' are key procedures in conservation of monuments.

He said some architectural items of Hindu and Jain Temple were found during the course of conservation and scientific clearance.
Some of these items are on display in Qutub Complex and the rest are kept in safe custody within the Complex.

No excavation has been carried out in the Qutub Complex. Only scientific clearance/conservation was carried out as per requirement.
Water-tightening treatment is applied to the stones to fill in the gaps and holes with cement and align them properly. The smallest crack can lead to major damage of a monument due to seepage.
Pointing refers to a procedure to make sure water has a path to escape. The longer water takes to escape the monument, the higher its potential to wreck.