How a plan to save Elephanta caves is gathering dust at the INTACH office

The year was 1995. It so happened that one of the UNESCO directors Bernard Fielden happened to visit the famous Elephanta caves near Mumbai, a World Heritage site. 

To his complete horror, he found children playing cricket and families picnicking inside the caves. The director left and soon UNESCO sent a letter to the Indian authorities that the state the site is in does not behove a world heritage site and UNESCO may even have to consider delisting. Elephanta had been included in the list in 1987.

UNESCO probably didn’t know it but they’d spoken the golden words. Only the possible threat of delisting would actually shake up the Indian somnolence. An external rebuke or shaming was perhaps the only thing they cared about. What their own citizens think or feel doesn’t really matter since these monuments are not for people like us (PLU) and people like them don’t matter. If any PLU or a VIP expressed a sudden, crazy desire to visit, they could just make sure no one else went on the same day. Even at places like the Golden temple in India, money and power speak volumes.

But in 1997, faced with the public shame of delisting, all panic buttons were pressed. A seminar was held in Mumbai in 1997 chaired by then chairman of INTACH, Pupul Jaykar. Everyone who knew anything about the subject attended including INTACH Mumbai head Tasneem Zakaria Mehta and the then DG, ASI Ajay Shankar. Finally, an apex steering committee for Elephanta was set up by MMRDA. At the time Vilasrao Deshmukh was the chief minister of Maharashtra. 

The official interest was limited to how not to lose face but no quick fixes were available. So after endless meetings and discussions, ASI officially appointed INTACH and asked them to create a report on how a world heritage site should be maintained, cared for and what the basic amenities ought to be available to the visiting public. 

INTACH started the work in 1998 and found the task easier said than done. There was a plethora of authorities under whose jurisdiction Elephanta came. The islands fall under the Maharashtra Tourism department (MTDC) as a tourist site, the forests on the islands fall under the Forest department (Alibaug and Raigarh district), the jetty is under the Mumbai Port trust, the three villages on the island have their own panchayats, general administration is under the Collector of the Raigarh district and the state government. In addition, there is ASI - responsible oddly for the steps and the main site. 

 

So at any point anyone trying to change and improve matters could be battling with, trying to coordinate, seek information from and convince a whole host of diverse and often illogical individuals and vested interests. Balancing all interests and coming up with viable and workable solutions meant that INTACH took five years to complete the report (1999-2004). Kirtida Unwalla, Mumbai based conservation architect – known for her recent work on the new Zara store at Mumbai’s Fountain – was roped in to help.

Strangely, although ASI had appointed INTACH, it didn’t want to fund the report. UNESCO provided some funds. In November 1999, Mehta who headed Mumbai’s INTACH chapter organized a fund-raiser to allow her to bring in expertise to prepare a report of this scope and scale. The event “Kaalchakra” had danseuse Alarmel Valli performing at the caves with Shubha Mudgal reciting shloks of Lord Shiva, probably invoking the gods to help save the moment. An art auction was held at the site. Mumbai’s who’s who attended and added glamour and glitter to the show. INTACH found the money it needed to produce a world-class report – one that the UNESCO complimented the organization on through a letter at the time. 

The INTACH report – submitted to ASI and then further to the state government in 2004 - injected semblance into almost everything that is wrong at the site today. The comprehensive management plan that this writer has a copy of covered every aspect : conservation and protection of the caves, environment conservation plan (which included mangrove and forest regeneration, landscape improvement and garbage collection and recycling), a hazard management plan and finally an infrastructure and development plan. 

“Basically, every aspect of making the site a pleasurable visit while minimizing the impact of the numbers expected without at any stage losing sight of the fact that those who lived around the caves also mattered as much” explains Mehta. The islands need to be habitable, livable and able to contribute to the livelihoods of those dependent on them.

But for general readers perhaps what matters more is the visible hazards one sees at the site today. The INTACH plan for instance suggested an alternative way to get people across to the site without jumping on and off several boats at the pier near Gateway of India, risking both falling into the water and a stampede or crush as hundreds attempt to beat others to it. 

It suggested doing away with the toy train that transports visitors from the main jetty to the entrance of the site, a longish walk. The train that has derailed time and again (run by a family who has long lived on the island) is primarily a gimmick to earn a quick buck and mostly doesn’t serve the purpose as it is only available when you head up, not when you head back. Instead the suggestion was to have a shaded pagoda like walkway with rest spots at decent intervals and battery operated or solar golf cart-like vehicles to transport the old and handicapped.

The report suggested climbing one set of steps to reach the caves and a separate set of steps to climb down to exit. As things stand, this is the scariest bit : the steps to and back from the caves are common and vendors have taken space on both corners of the steps, leaving very little area for the hordes to maneuver themselves in. Those walking down in particular don’t need to actually walk; one is just pushed by the crowd behind you. At times, the space to move closes in so sharply that you you’re your chances of being crushed are quite high. It is a disaster waiting to happen especially in high season when the numbers swell. 

INTACH’s plan suggested steps that lead up to the caves with no shops and vendors on the sides. And a separate area was demarcated for shops so that everyone who visits the caves passes through while exiting and ends up at least seeing what is on offer if not buying. 

The report was acknowledged by UNESCO and they said that the report should be used an example of how to manage heritage sites across the country. In 2005, a state government resolution was passed that said that all work that happens at the site must be in line and consonance with the INTACH report.

Based on this, some signages were introduced and security people were assigned to ensure some order. On the sidelines, INTACH did a lot of development work for the villages on the islands. Health, education, livelihoods were some of the aspects that INTACH started looking into. An old ASI cottage in a dilapidated state was proposed as a site museum. The museum with no separate ticket or charge had a gallery on the cave architecture of Maharashtra and unique to the world and a gallery on all the World heritage sites in India. This museum was even inaugurated by Deshmukh in 1999. Basic visitor amenities including toilets were built around the time although they are a bit of a walk from the main caves.

However, soon after the work began, something changed. In 2008 – when Deshmukh was chief minister for a second term - without any explanation and on rather flimsy pretext, the state government cancelled the appointment of INTACH for the Elephanta Development Plan. Everyone protested including the then director general of ASI, K.N. Srivastava. Letters went back and forth with everyone from the center and UNESCO seeking some credible reason for summarily dismissing five years of diligent hard work.

But all protests fell on deaf ears. For some inexplicable reason, the official mood had changed. The INTACH plan was no longer in favour and whatever may be the reason, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put Humpty together again. 

Everything at the site has slowly fallen to seed. The entire mangrove around the islands has been slowly destroyed. Once to be found rare flora and fauna has vanished. Garbage lies strewn at various places. The boats to ferry visitors look dodgy both to get onto and ride in. The steps are ripe for a stampede. The caves and visitors have largely been left to their own devices. Security if its there seems invisible in the thronging crowds, drunk on taking selfies and photographs at every corner.

People involved in the exercise and those who had put in five years of hard work tried to understand who and what ensured things went the way they did. The conclusion was not one that would surprise many Indians. There is one influential man and his family who appears to have single handedly managed to stymie the upkeep and development of a World Unesco heritage site. He runs the island like his own fiefdom and conservation is far from his mind. He and his wider family continues to benefit from repairing boats (chemicals seep into the water and have killed the mangroves), running the train and profiting from running shops and small restaurants near the site. Many say he lobbied with the ministers to halt the work; others say other vested interests jumped in. Either way work that was proposed to improve the site and the lives of the inhabitants has come to a halt. 

The whole wasted effort has left a bitter taste in the mouth of INTACH and everyone involved with the project. The failure of the state government to act and to let things reach where they have today leaves several questions to be answered. But the uppermost question in the mind of this writer is : when is the UNESCO director visiting next and can he somehow do it anonymously?