A heritage collapses as Telangkhedi wall caves in

Nagpur: Fear of conservationists came true on Saturday when a large part of the retaining wall around Telangkhedi (Futala) Lake, a Grade-1 heritage structure, collapsed. Activists have demanded urgent structural audit of the lake.
On Friday, the city witnessed heavy winds along with rainfall and it is likely that the wall came down as it was already weak.
Futala is listed as a Grade-I heritage structure in the gazette notification issued by the state government on October 18, 2003. The Grade-I category is the highest level of protection given to buildings and precincts of national or historic importance.
While the local administration has ambitious plans for giving a facelift to the lake precincts, activists warned that focusing on improving the aesthetics rather than assessing the structural value will prove to be detrimental.
According to them, the wall was constructed few years back. “It hardly lasted for two-to-three years. This shows that no structural audit has been carried out by the administration,” said Jaydeep Das, honorary wildlife warden of Nagpur.
In an interview with TOI, Union minister Nitin Gadkari had stated that the musical fountain at Futala lake was his dream project. Under this, MahaMetro will be building an elevated viewing gallery which will stretch across the a good part of the Futala waterfront.
The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (Neeri) has also warned that the facelift could cause permanent damage to the water body.
Activists further stated that the permission given by the heritage conservation committee to Futala redevelopment project was questionable and need to be revisited. As per heritage laws, any development around a Grade-1 structure should not destroy its grandeur and view. “The collapse of the wall shows that the lake is not secure,” said Das.
Two years back too the wall along Air Force gate side had also collapsed, pointed out Kaustav Chatterjee, founder of Green Vigil. “The wall surrounding Futala lake is in a shambles since last two years. The collapsed portion was barricaded during Ganpati Visarjan. A structural audit needs to be done urgently as many portions of the wall have collapsed. Ganpati festival will be here within three months and for safety purposes, measures need to be taken as Futala is the only lake where visarjan is being allowed.” He added that collapsed wall should be barricaded with tin sheets immediately.
As reported by TOI earlier, most of the construction is being planned in the lake’s catchment area, which according to Neeri can have adverse impacts. “Construction activities in the catchment area can reduce the flow of water into the lake,” Neeri had stated.