Portion of 18th-century gateway crushes car in South Delhi

A portion of an 18th-century gateway collapsed on a car that was parked underneath it in South Delhi's Garhi area.

Speaking to ANI, Brijan, the father of the car owner said the public uses this gateway a lot, and a mishap was averted as it collapsed in the wee hours of Thursday.

"My car was standing near the gate. The gate fell at around 2 am on Thursday. I heard a loud sound. When I came here, I saw my car badly damaged. It is very scary because if someone was inside the car then that person would have died. During day time, the public uses this gate a lot. Imagine, if this had happened during the day time there would have been deaths," he added.

According to Sanjay Basoya, a member of the Residents Welfare Association (RWA), the monument is an age-old 'chaupal'.

"Choudhary Ghulab Singh came here and settled in 1742. Gulab's sons and family built this village. It is our ancient chaupal. Now, there is a DDA park here as well. There is also a place called artist corner belonging to Lalit Kala Academy," he said.

Basoya also said several complaints have been filed regarding the deteriorating condition of the gateway.

"There are trees growing on the walls which have weakened the structure of this ancient building. This building is part of our culture and I want to preserve it. So I am requesting the government to maintain it," he said.

RWA president Mohinder Pal said, "We had approached BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi in June 2016. She visited here and after that, she wrote to the DDA. The DDA officials then wrote to the Centre and Delhi government's archaeological department. The DDA officials also wrote to DDA engineers but no action and work were done.