Good News for Mubarak Mandi

Mubarak Mandi located in the heart of the Jammu city is urban historic city area that has seen years of neglect and vandalisation. It is a complex of ten palaces that has witnessed the making of the modern Jammu and Kashmir. It has been the socio-cultural epicentre. It is from here that the erstwhile Dogra rulers of Jammu and Kashmir devised the policies and governed the state. Its history goes down to the times of Dev dynasty who ruled Jammu. This inheritance is of immense value as each palace has its own architectural uniqueness. The reason being that each building was constructed in a different time period. But the vested interests left no stone unturned to vandalise it. Almost 35 major and minor fire incidents have engulfed this complex. Thus making it vulnerable to destruction. It was due to the efforts of the civil society in Jammu that government intervention was made possible to preserve and restore this heritage. In the early 2000, Preserve Art Treasure & Heritage (PATH) filed a PIL asking the administration to vacate the offices from the complex. As the misuse of the heritage buildings had led to their dilapidated condition. Later on the preservation and restoration was handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) keeping in view their expertise in various aspects of heritage conservation. Due to technical issues various agencies were involved for its restoration. Though the Mubarak Mandi caught the imagination of the masses and the heritage expert’s but the pace of its restoration didn’t gain the speed that was needed. The need is to develop a multi-disciplinary approach to deliver on Mubarak Mandi. It needs the services of heritage conservators, conservation architects, art historians, tourism professionals, heritage management professionals and experts from various fields to develop a comprehensive strategy to restore this complex to a certain time frame in conservation parlance. Now the Administrative Department of Mubarak Mandi Complex is being shifted from tourism to culture. A detailed note for the accord of the approval by the Administrative Council headed by the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha has been prepared. Besides the additional staff will be placed at the disposal of the Mubarak Mandi Heritage Society to expedite the restoration work. This is a welcome move to catalyze the restoration of the monument. Mubarak Mandi was declared as the state protected monument as per the provisions of the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act .Previously Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums started the repairs done on urgent basis through Toursism Department. In 2008, the complex was transferred to the Mubarak Mandi Heritage Society for the management and conservation purposes. Due to the non-availability of human resource, the society started the restoration work through the Directorate of Tourism, Jammu. Making this department as its administrative department. Due to this situation there was a confusion in terms of the working of the society. Now that the government has decided to shift the Administrative Department of Mubarak Mandi from tourism to culture .There seems to be a proactive approach towards the restoration of the Mubarak Mandi. The previous records reveal that the Lieutenant Governor has stressed on numerous occasions to restore the complex and directed the officials to take necessary measures to complete the conservation of the complex within the stipulated time frame. This decision generates hope among the heritage lovers who value the heritage structures and want the policy makers to enable their sustainable reuse by responsible niche tourism strategies that focus on conservation ethics.