Mahesh Langa

Ahmedabad, March 30: The two monuments, which the Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation (AMC) proposes to partially demolish in Astodia to widen the
road are not only historically important, but are also architectural
marvels. Considering that both the structures are part of Ahmedabad’s
heritage, architects, conservationists and citizens in general are
expressing their anguish at the damage AMC is likely to cause to these
structures.

On Friday, about 50 leading citizens including architects, writers and
engineers got together at the Gajjar Hall and condemned the AMC’s
eagerness to demolish portions of the structures, which would leave them
permanently scarred. They deplored AMC for its decision of carrying out
demolitions in the vicinity of heritage monuments.

The mosque of Rani Sipri of Sa’Brai standing on Astodia road, which has
to be partially felled has been described as “one of the gems of
Ahmedabad” in AMC’s own book titled, Amdavad: Gujarat nu Patnagar. This
book was written by the famous historian, Ratnamarirao Bhimrao and was
published by AMC in 1953. The Patharwali Masjid nearby is too an
architectural wonder,