Tripolia suffers damage after truck rams it

NEW DELHI: The 18th century Tripolia gateways in north Delhi remain endangered with vehicles ramming into them at will. The two gateways, located on either side of the main carriageway on Grand Trunk Road, have already been damaged severely in the past by heavy vehicles forcibly passing through the arched openings. This had prompted Archaeological Survey of India to ask the road-owning agency PWD to lower the road level around the monument.

But even as the road-lowering work was completed at one gateway, the other was again hit by a passing truck last week which knocked off a significant portion of the stone edging in one of the arched openings.

The damage could be detrimental to the monument. "It is serious - the stone edging of the arched gateway has got dismantled and the arch itself has suffered structural damage," said an expert.

In the past, a container truck had forcibly passed under one of the arched gates, hitting against the sides, and caused a massive crack on top of the building. The damage to the monument had been so extensive that it had been barricaded from all sides and vehicular traffic under the structure temporarily diverted. Road lowering in the second gateway is yet to start.

Tripolia Gateways, built in 1728, by Nasir Mahaldar Khan, son of Emperor Shah Jahan -is the only three-arched gateway in the capital. The gateways have three arched openings and are covered by flat domes.