It was during the restoration work of the main building that a hidden trap door was found under the main building’s Shivaji Hall. It’s good news for heritage and history connoisseurs as the guided heritage tour at Savitribai Phule Pune University, discontinued for over two years due to the pandemic, is likely to resume soon. A proposal in this regard was submitted to the university administration last week, officials confirmed.
Starting at the Potdar Sankul, which now houses the placement and human resources cell of the university, and ending at the opulent main building, which is a protected heritage site, the flagship stop of the tour has been an underground tunnel discovered as recently as 2018, generating much curiosity.
Home to several heritage treasures which are now a part of a museum in the main building – which is the last stop on the heritage tour – the newly discovered tunnel has been the chief point of curiosity for most participants.
The discovery of the tunnel was accidental. It was during the restoration work of the main building that a hidden trap door was found under the main building’s Shivaji Hall. The trap door opened to a tunnel believed to have been constructed in the 1860s. It connected the Potdar Sankul to the main building, but was filled with debris and was in a decrepit state due to years of neglect.
“The main building was earlier the Governor House during the British era. Whenever the governor was in residence, there used to be parties in the ballroom and the Potdar Sankul served as the kitchen area then. So the tunnel was constructed for transporting food from the kitchen, both for safety as well as class-divide reasons,” said Dr Nitin Karmalkar, Vice-Chancellor of SPPU.
The discovery aroused considerable public curiosity and the university decided to open the tunnel to the public in a guided heritage tour. Besides the tunnel, people got a chance to see rare artefacts in the museum inside the SPPU’s main building. Various specimens of interest from geology, anthropology and history departments, such as coins and currency, swords, shields and armour from Shivaji Maharaj’s era, several types of rare stones, scrolls and objects of heritage value can be seen in the museum.
Dr Shraddha Kumbhojkar, head of the history department, confirmed that a proposal has been submitted to resume the heritage tour. “The route will be the same, but we have proposed to hold one tour every fortnight, instead of monthly tours, owing to its popularity. So far, it is free of cost and open to all with prior registration,” she said.
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