Due to heavy rainfall, a parapet of Lucknow’s historic 230-year-old Bara Imambara collapsed on Monday night. So far, no injuries to anyone have been reported. The superintending archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Aftab Hussain said despite proper maintenance of the monument, it was unfortunate that the parapet fell during heavy rains. “Soon after we got the information about the incident, site in-charge visited the area. Based on the inputs given by him, engineers will go and see the damage and will make a report on Tuesday. Thereafter, it will be restored,” he said.
The construction of Bara Imambara was started in 1780, a year of a devastating famine, and one of Asaf-ud-Daula’s objectives in embarking on this project was to provide employment for people in the region for almost a decade while the famine lasted. It is said that ordinary people used to work in the day building up the edifice, while noblemen and other elite worked at night to break down anything that was raised that day. It was a project that preceded a Keynesian-like intervention for employment generation. The estimated cost of building the Imambara ranges between half a million rupees to a million rupees. Even after completion, the Nawab used to spend between four and five hundred thousand rupees on its decoration annually.