One of the boundary walls of the Jammu city’s tallest sentinel — Bahu-Fort — crumbled on Saturday, exposing the quality of the preservation and renovation work carried out by the Department of State Archives, Archeology and Museum.
Strategically located on a hillock on the southern bank of River Tawi Bahu Fort isconsidered the oldest edifice in Jammu and houses a famous temple of Mahakali inside its four walls. It is a State protected monument and attracts large number of tourists and local disciples during the day. According to reports, the boundary wall of the fort originally built by Raja Bahulochan crumbled around 10.10 am on Saturday.
Bahu Fort was later modified by the Dogra rulers in the State and its strong walls were used by the army of Maharaja Gulab Singh and others to fire cannons at regular intervals to indicate time of the day. The tradition continued till after few months of August 1947. local residents in the area assembled near the fort and staged a protest demonstration against the authorities for neglecting the maintenance of the heritage property and demanded strict action against the laxity of the concerned authorities.