Panchakki gasping for new lease of life

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Panchakki - the watermill; which is an ideal example of engineering excellence is being pushed to slow death due to whims and fancies of some handful number of chief executive officers (CEO) of its custodian - Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs. The pathetic condition of the water heritage has been intensified in the past two decades !

According to an alert citizen, on anonymity said, “ The state government has transferred the CEOs having no respect for the heritage, so far. Earlier, the monument was lying neglected, but after Y2K, the monument started witnessing attempts to deface the beauty of Panchakki. The then CEO M Y Patel (2003 to 2006) was from the revenue department. Hence to show-off and set up a spacious office, he encroached the open verandah with three beautiful arches by constructing cement walls. He also painted this portion with the colour of his choice (ash grey). The CEOs between 2008 and 2011 also continued to harm the heritage. One CEO from a financial background ordered fixing of glazed tiles (of the modern period) to the water tower to get rid of the formation of green algae (which was defacing the beauty of the monument). This was an attempt to harm the authenticity and originality of the heritage. The white and blue colour tiles were fixed. However, the formation of algae still continues. Later on the pink colour was painted on the walls inside the campus. Adding to the woes, a few years ago, the giant size water fountain which is in the centre of the main water tank at the entrance was coloured with multiple colours and today it is covered by green algae. No pain has been taken to clean it, so far.”

Meanwhile, the heritage is a protected monument in the list of state archaeology. When contacted the assistant director of the Department of State Archaeology, Amol Gote, was not available to comment on the issue. The Wakf CEO, M B Tashildar was also not available in his office to comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, the heritage-lovers and historians heaved a sigh of relief after they learnt about shifting of MSBW headquarters from Panchakki after some five decades.