All this while, Red Fort’s name has been mud, or so it seems in the literal sense of the term. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has removed over 1,800 tonnes of mud in the past two months from the floor of the Delhi Darwaza of the historic Red Fort. According to officials, the work is only half done and it will take more time to remove the mud. The excess mud on top of the gate had piled up towards the end of the 1857 Mutiny.
A history claims responsibility of this huge amount of mud being carried on through ages. It is claimed that the British used this gate to keep an eye on the activities of freedom fighters. They also used this gate to fire cannons and they put mud on the roof to secure the cannons from the scorching heat. When the British Army seized the fort, it dumped earth on the ramparts above the Delhi and lahore Gates to make a ramp that would serve as a defence wall. left as it is for the next 157 years the melba was stressing the structures and had become a cause of seepage during the monsoon. The mud not only causes seepage but also puts excessive load on the gates when it is heavy with water. Also, a lot of vegetation crops up in the melba.
The additional weight on the ramparts became a major cause of worry for the ASI. Using archival pictures from 1858, it showed that the ramparts also had merlons (decorative battlements), which were probably buried under the dumped earth. A large portion of the fort’s facade was also lost under the mud ramp. “We then decided to remove the earth from the ramparts of Delhi Gate to not only reduce the load over the monument but also avoid stagnation of water and seepage problems. Since the work started about a month ago, we have removed about 1,800 tonnes of mud and exposed buried portions of the structure. We are still halfway through the task and it will take about two more months to remove another 1,800 tonnes of mud,” said officials.
The original deposit of mud on the ramparts is about 10 feet high and it is being removed manually. “We exposed a half-buried chhatri. We also came across storage places for gun shells, cannonballs, gunpowder, etc made by the British. These will be retained as they are also a part of the Fort’s history,” said a senior ASI official.
A similar mud ramp and defence wall also exists over the lahore Gate’s ramparts, but this will be removed later. Here, the mud deposit has been developed into a manicured lawn that is used for seating VIPs during the Independence Day celebrations.